The Island of Trades
by Kaoden
Summary: Continuation of A Grave Danger. When their log pose is altered from an unknown source, the Straw Hats head in the new direction given. What is going on at Handel Island, and why have the Straw Hats been brought there? ZoRo and light LuNa.
1. Summary

**This page contains a lot of commentary and summary, so if you're here for the story just go to the next page**

A/N: Altered the timeline of the story a little bit to fix some inconsistencies with the amount of food left to the time that had passed since then. I'm not sure if it's consistent within the chapters, I'll have to look later. Please let me know if you see any inconsistencies in the story!

First thing is first, there will be death in this story (and some swearing, don't know the extent yet) and that's why it might later be rated M (unlikely, only if I have to). I don't think I'll make it _too_ graphic, but it will be there, guaranteed. It's extremely unlikely (basically not going to happen) that I will kill off any of the straw hats since it's completely unnecessary and too angsty, but don't let that calm you since there's no guarantee that the crew will win or get out completely unscathed. Don't want to take out all suspense, now, do I?

Anyways, I'm going to have this section as a summary of the events so far. Because of this, expect this page to change constantly over the course of the story. The reason I'm putting this here is so that if you forget particular details, you can always revert back to this page and refresh on the storyline so it doesn't get too confusing. I've included a summary for A Grave Danger as well, considering this arc will be expanding on the events that occurred during it. I don't suggest looking at it until reading through everything since writing a summary has proven to be pretty difficult. Some things may not be included that are important since it'd be too lengthy to include every minute detail, this is just a refresher.

**Be sure not to read this unless you've already read through the story. Spoilers ahead.**

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After Nami overheard rumors of a hidden treasure at a certain island, she steals a map and eternal pose from a group of people who know its location. Taking the crew on a detour from Merman Island to the island in question, Nami had some of the crew investigate the ancient tomb in search of the supposed treasure. Included were Luffy, Zoro, Usopp, Robin, and Franky. It wasn't until long that the group was separated from each other with Luffy, Usopp, and Franky in one area and Zoro and Robin at the other.

Travelling together and nearly falling to dangerous traps, Zoro and Robin soon find themselves at the main room of the tomb. In the room there was an altar, of which had an enormous diamond resting on it. Upon entering said room, the two are assaulted by unknown creatures and after a strenuous fight they manage to escape with the diamond.

Weakened from their endeavor at the altar, Zoro and Robin are relieved to run into Luffy and Usopp. They find out that Usopp and Luffy had found the entrance to the tomb and sent Franky to inform the rest of the Straw Hats of what had happened while Luffy and Usopp went back in to look for the two. Following their nakama, Zoro and Robin soon find themselves back on the Thousand Sunny.

Zoro attempts to give Nami the diamond to finally end his debt, but before he can Luffy runs into him, knocking it out of Zoro's hands, and the diamond is almost lost to the ocean. Deciding the stress induced on her was worth 100,000 Beli, Zoro ironically ends up in more debt than he was before.

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A week has passed since the events at the tomb and the crew has had time to recover from their last adventure. On a particularly calm and peaceful day, each crewmember spends their time doing their own tasks until a surprised yell is heard from Nami.

Nami was checking on her log pose when it suddenly and sharply changed its course. Checking backup log poses and their eternal pose to confirm it, it is apparent that something is interfering with the magnetic frequencies near them. The Straw Hats have no other course of action than to head where the log poses now point.

Almost two weeks passed by and the morale of the crew was dropping. It had been a fair amount of time since the crew disembarked from Water 7 and supplies were running low. Coupled with hardly any food on the previous island and no bait to catch fish with, food was running low and the threat of it running out loomed over the crew.

Tensions rose and a fight broke out between Zoro and Sanji in the Crow's Nest regarding the pair's choices on giving up shares of their food for others. A silent truce was reached shortly after and the crew went to bed still with positive spirits.

The next morning Robin was finishing her night shift up in the Crow's Nest, reflecting on recent events, when she noticed the outline of a new island coming into sight. Robin quickly woke up the rest of the crew and informed them of the newest development. Excited for a new adventure, the Straw Hat's used up the rest of their food for a large celebratory breakfast and eagerly awaited their arrival at the new island.

The Straw Hats prepared to explore the new island and to look for the town that had been spotted earlier and Nami has split the crew into three groups, each having their own tasks to accomplish for the first day on shore.

Group one consists of Luffy, Nami, Sanji, and Franky. Their goal is to get to the town and to gather badly needed supplies (food, etc) as well as to look for someone who will buy the diamond they have in their possession.

Group two consists of Usopp and Chopper. Their job is to stay behind on the Thousand Sunny to protect the ship from anyone who may find it as well as to prevent the diamond from being found and/or stolen.

Group three would have consisted of Robin and Zoro, but after Nami 'accidentally' spilled red wine on Zoro's last clean shirt, the swordsman angrily left the ship before anyone realized and quickly got lost, heading in the opposite direction from the town that had been seen. Robin left shortly afterwards, heading in the correct direction in order to gather any information that could be useful to the crew. Information such as the length the crew will have to stay on the island, what was happening with the magnetic frequencies, and who/what may have caused the change in the log pose.

Robin continued on towards the town before coming unexpectedly on a resort bordering the beach she was walking on. After looking around the resort, Robin was approached by Circa, a resident of the island. Circa explained to Robin how the island works and graciously gave the archeologist her bridge pass, good for another week. Circa told Robin to drop by her cabin in the woods when she had the time and Robin departed afterwards.

In Old Town, Robin followed the log pose she brought with her and eventually was lead to a bar. Before she entered the bar, however, Robin bumped into Callos, a member of the Falken crew. The two talked for a moment before Callos left with his companion, Andy, who was another Falken member, to complete an objective given to them by Garand, the first mate.

Just before Robin entered the bar, the pose she carried reverted back to its normal position. Knowing that whatever the cause for the alteration of the pose was in the bar regardless, Robin entered.

Elsewhere, Zoro had taken a nap in New Town shortly after he had entered. Two aspiring nurses found him and mistook the wine stains on his shirt for blood stains and frantically carried him to the center of the island across a bridge.

After waking up, Zoro escaped from the nurses and decided to go to a tavern to get his bearings since he had no idea where he was. Shortly after entering the bar, Zoro is approached by Rederick, another member of the Falken crew who befriends the green haired swordsman.

As the two converse with each other, a local band of would-be bounty hunters barge into the bar in order to capitalize on Zoro's bounty. Jacob, their leader, attempted to subdue Zoro before him and the rest of his gang were swiftly defeated by the green haired swordsman. Zoro took Jacob's wallet to help pay for the damages as well as his red shirt before the man tried to attack Zoro from behind. Rederick defended the swordsman and cast the townsman out of the bar with an attack similar to one Zoro had used.

Soon after, Rederick surged with an enormous amount of power and took his leave afterwards, worried about something and wanting to find it out. Zoro watched as he left and saw in horror Robin standing by the entrance, bloodied and hurt.


	2. Chapter 1

A/N: Finally, my new story! I'm really excited for this and I hope you guys are too. This will shape up to be quite a long adventure and I'll try to get it consistently updated as quickly as possible. The only problem right now is that the external hard drive I had that had all of the episodes on it (was re-watching the series and using it for research) got its memory corrupted, so I'll either have to replace it or bring it in to get fixed. Either way, it should hopefully only set me back a couple of days. Enjoy!

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It had been nearly a week since the escapade at the ancient tomb and the Straw Hat Pirates were ready as ever for their next adventure. The weather was very mild and the overall mood of the crew was very calm. Each crewmember was attending to their personal tasks and nobody had said much throughout the day. These kinds of days were a necessity for a crew like the Straw Hats. Even the craziest of people needed some time to themselves, and the Straw Hats were certainly no exception. Even though they were rare, every member understood the importance of occasionally having a slow day. Having a slow day was easier for some crewmates than others, but each person managed to find a task or two to distract them, many times ones that they had been falling behind on.

Chopper was in his quarters, reading some new books he had recently purchased and was trying out various combinations of ingredients to come up with new and more effective medicines. Chopper was also trying to create a new rumble ball of sorts. During and after the events of Water 7, Chopper had felt that he wasn't strong enough yet, especially when he was unable to move on the boat at the bridge of hesitation. His nakama were all fighting to protect Robin while they waited for Luffy, but Chopper was unable to do anything because he had strained his body too much after eating a third rumble ball fighting Kumadori. He had defeated Kumadori, yes, but Chopper had paid a terrible price as well, one both in body and mind.

The rumble ball was a powerful asset to Chopper's arsenal but one he felt had too many drawbacks. While gaining four extra transformations with the power of the rumble ball, the user had to be careful since the nature of the rumble ball was that it distorted the wavelengths of the user's devil fruit powers. As such, eating two within a certain time caused the user to lose all control of their transformations and eating a third caused all of the transformations to combine into one final, monstrous form. Chopper had experienced this form only twice including Water 7, and it wasn't something he would like to ever experience again. Not only did he lose control of his mind and body, Chopper would indiscriminately attack everything within sight, even his own nakama. The concentrated energy took drastic tolls on his body as well, and every minute spent in it threatened to kill Chopper of fatigue. This endangerment of not only himself but his nakama as well was something Chopper, as a doctor, found unacceptable.

The thoughts drove Chopper on, forcing him to toil as much as he could to come up with the next breakthrough. Seeing as how the rumble ball was accidental, Chopper decided trying random combinations to see if he could replicate his previous success. Wiping sweat off of his brow, Chopper added in a dried herb he had found lying around the island they were just at, perhaps this ancient flora was the missing key.

An explosion of smoke and ash signified yet another failure and tears began to form in his eyes. Whether the tears were from the explosion itself or from frustration of failure after failure, even Chopper himself could not decipher. Still, he had to become stronger, more reliant, more dependant for his nakama. Wiping the tears from his eyes, Chopper nodded and cleaned out the bowl he was using, determined to try again and again until he finally succeeded.

Elsewhere, Usopp was laboring at his workshop, similar to Chopper. Around him were all sorts of dials that he had acquired from Skypia, ranging from simple tone dials to the dangerously powerful impact dials. Though it had been taking some time, Usopp had finally started to get the hang of the dials and their mechanics and his new weapon, Kabuto, was the result of this new understanding.

Picking up the giant pachinko shooter in his hands, Usopp felt a reassuring sense of empowerment. If he could create a great weapon such as this with a basic understanding of dials, imagine what he could make once he fully understood them. What Usopp now wanted to focus on was the impact dial, something that until now had greatly intimidated him. If he could only somehow harness its explosive power without worrying about its insane recoil, Usopp could create something that would shoot twice as far as Kabuto. That wasn't to say Kabuto wasn't a good weapon, in fact, it had worked splendidly at Enels Lobby. Usopp learned that the large weapon was able to fire further than the average rifle, no small feat to accomplish through a handmade weapon.

Enels Lobby… Usopp half closed his eyes and began reminiscing about things he wished he could put behind him. Things he wished he could go back and change. Recent events had found him leaving the crew and it was only through the sheer strength of their friendship that Usopp found himself welcome aboard again. He knew that he had done wrongs that he would never be able to right again, and it pained him. He had seriously fought his best friend, his captain, and lost. Usopp fought for reasons he understood were weak, but was too cowardly to admit it to even himself.

Putting down his tools and sauntering up, Usopp went to the door and looked at for his black haired captain. He found him at the side of the ship, sitting alone with a fishing pole in his hands looking rather bored. Scratching the back of his head, Usopp figured that he should at least try to mend the wounds he had caused to his nakama and grabbed his fishing pole.

Usopp opened the door and walked down the staircase over to where Luffy was sitting, standing next to him before sitting down. He felt like he couldn't just walk up and sit down next to him like he always could, not yet at least. Usopp desperately wanted things to return to normal and was worried that the crew would never treat him the same again.

Luffy looked up to his new companion and began to laugh. "Yo, Usopp! Whatcha doing?" Noticing the pole the sniper was carrying, Luffy nodded understandingly. "Oh, I see. Well then, come catch some fish with me, though I haven't really caught anything yet." Luffy then looked at his bait-less hook and frowned, grumbling under his breath.

Usopp was slightly taken aback by Luffy's nonchalant attitude. It was almost like he didn't even care about their previous quarrel. Shaking his head and berating himself, Usopp realized that Luffy and the rest of the crew wouldn't make it that easy for him. Perhaps he really could go back to the way things were.

"Oi, oi, oi, that's because you don't have any bait on your hook. What do you expect to catch like that?" Usopp began poking Luffy's head then sat down next to him. Reaching for the barrel next to Luffy that held the bait in it, Usopp expected to find different assortments of bait only to look into an empty barrel. "Hey now, don't tell me you ate all of the bait again, Luffy. What are we supposed to catch the fish with now?"

"I couldn't help it, I got really hungry and Sanji said that he wouldn't make me any food until I had caught some fish." Luffy looked down sympathetically at his stomach and began rubbing it with his free hand, it growled loudly.

"You do realize that in order to catch those fish you need bait, right? Try to think these things through once in a while. You can't always get around making rash decisions." Usopp sighed and dropped his lure into the water without any bait on it. He knew there wouldn't be any catches, but it helped to pass the time at the very least.

Footsteps sounded behind the two crewmates. Looking back, they saw it to be the shipwright, Franky, carrying a crate with bottles inside of it. Luffy's eyes widened in excitement and he began clapping his sandals together. "Oi, Franky! Are those colas? Can we have some, please? I'm really thirsty!"

Looking at the two, Franky rested the crate in one arm and flipped up his sunglasses with the other. "Yeah, sure, but only one, the ship needs the rest for fuel and I'd rather not waste too much of it before we reach the next island. You never know what we'll run into out here." Grabbing two bottles from the crate, Franky tossed them to the captain who had put his fishing pole on the ground.

As Franky walked away to continue stocking various rooms on the ship, he overheard yelling from the sniper and captain and looked back to see Usopp gripping Luffy by his shirt and shaking him violently. Usopp was yelling something about sharing and Franky saw that Luffy's cheeks were abnormally inflated and that he held two now-empty bottles of cola in his hand. Franky laughed to himself as he made his way to the engine room.

Checking on the main fuel gauge, Franky was pleased to see that the meter hadn't moved much since he last checked. They had been getting a steady wind in the right direction, so there wasn't much of a need for the ship to do any work. Opening a couple of the bottles, Franky poured them into the vat that contained the rest of the cola meant for powering the ship. He heard creaking from above him and swore under his breath. Zoro must be working out again.

The damn swordsman was too inconsiderate of the ship, the blue haired shipwright thought to himself. Sure he didn't break stuff that often, but those insane weights he trained with put a lot of stress on different areas of the ship, ones Franky found himself constantly mending and repairing. If he wasn't careful, Zoro could easily damage the ship quite extensively. Franky didn't mind it that much, though, since it made him feel useful on the ship. After all, he was the newest member and felt like he had to contribute in some way, however small it was. Smiling again to himself, Franky tossed the towel he used to clean his oil-ridden hands over his shoulders and began to do his daily maintenance on the gears of the ship.

Up in the crow's nest, Zoro was carefully swinging one of his weights in front of him, chanting out the number of the repetition while stressing the last number. On each vertical swing, droplets of sweat would fall off of his face and pool on the ground. Finishing the last rep in his workout, Zoro cautiously placed his weights back in their proper receptacles, making sure to keep the weight even so as not to upset the balance of the ship.

Walking over to a bench where his belongings were, Zoro picked up a canteen and, after drying his face with a towel, took a long swill of water. Drinking his fill, Zoro removed the canteen from his lips with a refreshed exhale and began stretching his muscles. The day had been a good one, Zoro thought to himself. He had been able to get in more training than usual and it had been very serene and uninterrupted. Days like it were rare and Zoro made sure to enjoy every minute. After wrapping his towel around his neck resting over his shoulders, Zoro looked out a window across the water. The swordsman gauged it was getting close to later in the day and wondered what the ero-cook was making for dinner as he put his shirt on.

Looking at the same scene from the kitchen, Sanji returned his gaze to the food at hand. Since their bumbling idiot for a captain was unable to catch any new fish, the blonde haired cook was forced to give each crewmember, save Nami and Robin, smaller portions. It had been some time since they had restocked their food, and it was difficult enough as it was feeding the gaping hole that was Luffy as well as the rest of the crew without having to worry about a food shortage. Say what they would about their captain, the rest of the crew had no small appetite themselves. It was only because the captain's appetite dwarfed their own that it seemed like they didn't eat that much.

Regardless, Sanji began slicing up the last of their fish, afterwards placing it in the frying pan. They still had enough food for the next week, so there was no looming threat of running out any time soon. After adding the final touches to his meal, Sanji set up the table and walked outside the kitchen. Not seeing Nami anywhere on deck, Sanji instead looked for his other love, Robin, finding her sitting at her table on the grass below him with another book in hand.

"Robin-chan, dinner's ready! I made your serving with extra care as always, so enjoy. By the way, where's Nami-san?" Sanji had his hands clasped together and was shaking his hips side to side in bliss, Robin truly was a beautiful sight to behold.

Before Robin could answer his question, Sanji was assaulted by the black haired captain who was ecstatic to eat his next meal. "Sanji, is it dinner time?!? I'm really really hungry! Did you make meat? I want meat, lots of meat!" Jumping up and down while keeping his grip on the railing, drool began to run down Luffy's mouth as he pictured the extravagant meal in his mind.

Changing his affectionate look to one of disinterest, Sanji pulled a cigarette out from his pocket and lit it. Taking a drag from the newly lit cigarette and exhaling, Sanji pointed back to the kitchen with his thumb. "Your meal is in its usual spot, Luffy, though I had to give you less than normal since we're running short on food and because you didn't catch anything today. I'm going to kick your ass if I find out you ate anything extra, so don't."

Luffy returned Sanji's stone-hard stare with a begging one, almost like a puppy. "But Sanji, I tried really hard to catch them, but none bit!" Sanji watched as Usopp walked up behind Luffy and smacked him in the back of the head. "That's because you ate all of the bait, you dolt. It's no wonder why we didn't catch anything. Come on, you can have some of my meal."

Watching the two friends go into the kitchen, Sanji couldn't help but smirk as he took another drag from his cigarette. It was obvious that Usopp was trying to make up for him leaving the crew earlier even though it wasn't necessary. That didn't stop Luffy from graciously accepting Usopp's offer, however, as he began chanting excitedly for food.

The distraction gone, Sanji looked back to Robin to hear what she was going to say. Robin smiled back at Sanji and he felt his heart jump and found himself melting like a piece of butter. It was so great to have such gorgeous ladies on board, he could hardly contain himself. Flicking his finished cigarette off of the ship, Sanji eagerly awaited Robin's response so he could inform Nami of dinner.

"Nami-chan is in her room, working on her maps, cook-san. Are you sure you don't want me to go get her instead? It might be dangerous to leave those two alone." Quickly following her statement was sounds of struggle from inside the kitchen. Usopp could be heard yelling at Luffy to stop eating other peoples' food before they even got to the table while bumping noises could be heard from what appeared to be Usopp trying to restrain the black haired captain.

"Yeah, you're probably right, Robin-chan." Returning his gaze from the kitchen door to Robin, Sanji's eyes immediately lit up again. "You're so smart, Robin-chwan! I can always count on you. Could you get Nami-san for me?" Robin simply smiled and nodded at the blonde haired cook, rising from her chair to get the navigator.

Walking towards the orange haired navigator's room, Robin could hear Sanji open up the kitchen door and begin yelling at Luffy and Usopp, much to the dismay of both. Their cries were drowned out after the cook closed the door to the kitchen. Robin noticed the swordsman climbing down from the observatory and waved at Franky as he emerged from the men's quarters. Climbing up the staircase, Robin walked towards the women's quarters where Nami was residing.

Nami had been working intensely on her maps the entire day. She hardly had enough time as it was to work on her world map, and the few days she had to do so were frequently interrupted by someone on the ship, most often Luffy. That's why whenever a slow day came about Nami would seclude herself in her quarters, working on her maps as much as she could. Dipping her quill into the bottle of ink sitting by her, and more importantly, the diamond, Nami continued to work on the map of the island they were just at. She always saved the more recent islands for the end of the day, since they were the freshest in her memory.

Getting distracted yet again by the glorious diamond sitting at her desk, Nami eyed the gemstone affectionately. There wasn't much more that she loved than money, and the stone in front of her was basically money incarnate. The diamond could easily fetch her a few hundred million Beli, and Nami intended to squeeze every bit of money that she could out of it.

Nami decided, after finishing her last map for the day, that she should check up on the log pose to make sure they were on course. Looking down, the orange haired navigator saw that they were still on course and that no adjustments were needed yet. Suddenly, without warning, the log pose on her wrist began shaking. Her face becoming white, Nami could only look in horror as the pointer in the log pose completely changed direction without warning. It shouldn't have, since the next island it was set to was Merman Island and there was no island before the New World with a magnetic wave strong enough to override the log pose once it was set to it.

Understanding that to doubt the log pose was breaking the only rule of the Grand Line, Nami felt something else had to be wrong. Rummaging through her belongings, the orange haired navigator pulled out the eternal pose set to their last island and shrieked in horror. Instead of pointing backwards like it should have, the eternal pose was now pointing in the same exact direction as the log pose on Nami's wrist.

Right after Nami screamed, Robin threw the door open and rushed in. "Nami-chan, what's wrong? Why did you scream?" Unable to find words, Nami could only look in terror at the latest development. Robin's entrance was quickly followed by Zoro and Franky, who had not yet made it to the kitchen. Upon seeing Nami slouched next to her desk, the two newcomers began asking the same questions Robin had.

Robin managed to silence the swordsman and shipwright, immediately walking next to Nami afterwards. Crouching next to the orange haired navigator, Robin simply asked, "Nami, what happened?"

"The log pose… and the eternal pose… they changed… they changed direction. I was looking at the log pose and it changed right in front of my eyes."

"That's not possible, no island had a strong enough magnetic field to outdo Merman Island yet, are you sure you didn't imagine it?" Robin stood back up and crossed her arms, what Nami suggested was impossible, she had to have been seeing things.

Standing up as well and turning to face Robin, Nami shook her head vehemently. "That's what I thought at first too, but take a look at this." Nami then presented Robin with the eternal pose alongside the log pose, they still pointed in the same direction. The gravity of their situation finally dawned on Robin, and she too wore a face mixed of confusion and fear.

"Oi, what's going on you two?" Zoro interrupted. He began to tap his foot out of impatience and was getting hungrier by the second. If he missed out on dinner from Luffy eating all of his food before he could get there, Zoro was going to be pissed.

Nami looked at Zoro and simply said, "Something is interfering with the magnetic frequencies around us, both the log pose and the eternal pose are pointing in the same direction." Navigation never being one of his stronger areas, Zoro simply shrugged his shoulders. "Well, what does that mean?"

Nami looked back to the two poses. "It means that we're now lost and have no idea where we're going."

"So what do we do now?" Franky asked, looking to Nami for an answer.

"The only thing we can do, we follow it."

_Ending note: Holy crap, this chapter is looooooooong, way longer than I thought it would be. Once I started going more in-depth with Chopper, it just didn't feel right to not do the same with the rest of the crew. Many hours later, here we are, heh. I think this might be one of my most well written chapters yet, and I hope that I made the transitions between the characters as smooth as I wanted to. It was somewhat difficult keeping every crewmember in character without them being too one dimensional, but I think I might have been able to do it. What do you guys think? I'm very interested (this chapter more than others) to see if I did a good job. Anyways, don't know when the next one is coming out but hopefully it will be soon._


	3. Chapter 2

A/N: I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that I replaced my old external hard drive with a new one which holds a terabyte. The bad news is that because it's new I'm going to have to re-download a lot of One Piece episodes so I can familiarize myself with everybody's fighting styles. I'm downloading what I can, but the progress on the story will unfortunately be delayed more than I intended it to. Convenient for me, though, is that it should take quite a few chapters before any actual fighting occurs, so with any luck I won't skip a beat here. As always, I ask that you guys drop a review when you get the chance. Doesn't have to be long or thought provoking, a few simple words is more than enough (even if it's bashing, all reviews are very welcomed). I know me saying that I'm asking implies that I'm being reserved, which isn't the case, but I'm not very subtle when it comes to these sorts of things, so…… ENJOY.

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Four days had passed since the sudden change of direction from the log pose. Everybody had been informed of the situation rather quickly after it had arrived. The morale of the crew was beginning to falter, for the most part, as some began to wonder if the log pose was leading them nowhere. The fact that they were almost out of food didn't help the feelings of uneasiness that were quickly overtaking the Straw Hat Pirates.

Inside of the kitchen, stomachs loudly rumbled and the voices of their owners moaned almost as much as them. It pained Sanji deeply to see his nakama in such condition since he knew best of all the cruelties of hunger out on the sea. Just about starving to death will make anybody more appreciative of what it is to have food. He had been giving himself less and less food each day, instead giving what little extra he could to the rest of the crew. It was his job as chef to see that everyone was fed, and he would be damned if he would have extra food when he could spare some for them.

Tossing the last of the meat they had stocked from Water 7 on the pan, Sanji wiped the sweat off of his brow. It was too bad that there wasn't any wildlife on the previous island they were at. It was relatively small and even though they didn't scout the entire island, it became abundantly clear that the only thing there was to find regarding sustenance was smaller fruits. They stocked as much as they could, but it wasn't really much.

After he finished cooking, Sanji went about setting places on the table for everyone to eat at. It wasn't long until the blonde haired cook could hear yelling from outside the kitchen. No doubt it was Luffy, Sanji thought. Anyone would be able distinguish the captain's trademark racket. The places set and the food on the table, Sanji walked over to the door and opened it. Unsurprising to the cook, the black haired captain of the Straw Hat crew stood eagerly outside.

"Sanji, is it dinner time? I want an extra serving of meat!" Luffy was drooling at the mouth and seemed to be lost in his own little world. Sanji though that it was almost as if he was oblivious to the situation at hand, though almost was the key word. Sanji knew that Luffy of all people knew exactly what was going on and that he probably was hurting more than anybody else on the ship. To see the black haired captain act the same way he always did, completely unaffected by the dire circumstances, was nothing short of incredible to Sanji. His captain must have the willpower of a hundred men to put up with this torture and keep a smile on his face. And if his captain could do it, then Sanji was sure as hell that he could too, same with the rest of the crew for that matter.

Pulling out a cigarette and taking a drag after lighting it. The blonde haired cook leaned forward and looked at his captain's sandals. "Oi, Luffy, I think your shoes are untied."

"Oh, really? Is that so?" Luffy bent over and began to inspect his feet only to feel a forceful kick land on the back of his head.

His tendon resting neatly on Luffy's neck and his hands in his pockets, Sanji applied various amounts of pressure to bob the captain up and down. "You dumbass! You don't even wear shoes; I can't believe you fell for that! You of all people know that we don't have enough food to give extras; you'll just have to eat what you're given. How many times do I have to tell you this?"

At this point, the rest of the crew became aware of the commotion between the cook and captain and realized it was time to eat dinner. Filing in one at a time while Sanji continued to argue with Luffy, each crewmember took their seat and waited patiently for everyone to arrive before eating. Last to arrive was Franky, who had just finished climbing down from his maintenance up in the crow's nest.

As Franky was about to enter, Sanji caught his attention and took his foot off of Luffy, allowing the captain to finally enter the kitchen. "Hey, where's that marimo-head? He's going to miss dinner."

Franky flipped up his sunglasses and shrugged his shoulders. "He said that he wasn't hungry and that his share could be split by the rest of us. Sounds fishy if you ask me, but you know how he gets. That guy is more stubborn than anyone I know, maybe even Straw Hat over there." Franky gestured at where Luffy had entered.

Sanji nodded and Franky proceeded to enter the kitchen. That bastard, was he really going to miss his third dinner in a row? Sanji took another drag from his cigarette and peered up towards the crow's nest, only turning to go into the kitchen after a moment's pause.

Despite being a low point for the Straw Hats, dinner was just as exciting as ever. Actually, by the time Sanji had entered, the place he had set for the swordsman was devoid of any food. Unable to tell who was involved in the disappearance, Sanji felt that he had a good idea of at least one or two of the culprits. Regardless, the food intended for Zoro was gone, and Sanji was going to be damned if he let the shitty swordsman be as selfish as he was trying to be.

Sanji waited until everyone had finished their dinner and left before he took his own in his hands. Looking at the plate, he saw that it was pretty inadequate as far as a meal went. Not much meat on it coupled with half of a potato and some of the fruit from the previous island. Certainly not what Sanji would consider fine cuisine, but it would do what it needed to.

Plate in hand, Sanji exited his workplace and began climbing up to the crow's nest. Making his way to the workout room, Sanji quickly located the green haired swordsman chanting out numbers as he lifted his weights. The blonde haired cook easily noticed tell-tale signs of malnourishment as he approached Zoro.

Sanji walked up to where the swordsman was and waited for some sort of acknowledgement. Receiving none, the blonde haired cook could feel his anger rising quickly and he tossed the plate onto the ground, almost spilling the meager contents onto the floor. Taking another cigarette and lighting it, Sanji toyed with the narcotic in his mouth.

"Oi, moss-head. Why haven't you been eating lately? It's not like you to miss a meal you freeloading bum." Sanji inhaled smoke and continued to wait for a reply.

After another minute passed without the swordsman responding in any way, Sanji tossed the cigarette onto the floor and crushed it under the heel of his shoe. His gritted his teeth while continuing to grind the cigarette into the ground. "Don't think I don't know what you're doing. You're starving yourself so that the rest can eat a little more. Do you think that's helping them at all? Do you think you're sacrifice is in any way beneficial? You're wrong; it does hardly anything for them while it destroys your body. Do you think they want your sympathy? They're starving with you, it's selfish to deny yourself food for their sake, insulting even."

Zoro paused his exercise and weakly looked over to the blonde haired cook, staring at him in the eyes and proceeding to inspect the rest of his body afterwards. "What about you then? You're doing the same exact thing as I am, giving them food that should go to you."

Sanji stopped digging his foot into the cigarette. Damn, busted.

The swordsman continued to stare at Sanji and he could tell that he was working out something in his mind. "From way you gave me this plate, I'd bet that plate is yours, isn't it? How fitting, you contradict yourself. I despise hypocrites, you stupid curly-brow."

Finding himself unable to take any more of the swordsman's slander, Sanji kicked the plate of food at Zoro, sending its contents spilling onto the floor. Leaning forward with his hands in front of him clenched into a fist, Sanji began to yell at the swordsman. "So what if I'm a hypocrite?! I'd much rather be that than see my crewmates starve! Do you have any idea what it's like to almost starve to death? Do you have any idea of how horrible it is to wake up wishing that you could put something, anything, into your stomach to satisfy it for only a minute? Wanting to cry but having no tears, wanting to scream but having no voice, do you have ANY idea of what that's like, you shitty bastard?!"

Taken aback by the sudden emotional outburst from the cook, Zoro could only look wide-eyed at his companion. Zoro opened his mouth to try to produce a response, but before he could even begin to attempt to address Sanji's questions, the swordsman found himself cut off by the cook.

"No, you don't." Sanji returned his posture to being slightly slouched, keeping one of his hands in his pocket while proceeding to place a cigarette in his mouth with the other. "So before you lecture me about things you couldn't possibly understand, imagine that scenario. I can guarantee you it's far worse than that so don't condemn me. Christ, I don't even know why I bothered with you, should have just left you alone up here to rot, you shitty marimo."

Sanji walked away and left the crow's nest, leaving the green haired swordsman dumbfounded. He looked at the mess of food in front of him with envious eyes, but decided not to indulge himself. Not sure if it was stubborn pride or silent remorse, Zoro could only pick up the spilled food and neatly place it back on the plate which luckily was still intact.

Sitting next to the plate silently, Zoro couldn't decide what to do next. Sitting motionlessly for a couple of minutes, Zoro was about to return to training when he heard the familiar noise of someone coming up into the crow's nest. Scratching the back of his head angrily, the swordsman expected to see the face of the cook only to see that of the archeologist. Startled, Zoro stopped scratching and leaned back, resting his weight on both arms behind his back.

"Cook-san seemed rather upset when he came back down, what happened?" Robin walked over to where Zoro was sitting on the ground and took her own seat on the bench near him. She crossed her legs and rested her arms gently on her lap, folding her hands and waiting patiently for a response.

When it became apparent that the swordsman wasn't going to reply, Robin diverted her attention to the food on the plate. "Is that yours? You should eat it before it gets cold, Kenshi-san. It isn't good for you to skip eating the way you are. It would make Cook-san feel better, too. We're all worried about you."

Zoro averted his glance from that of the raven haired archeologist in a strange sense of defeat. Had he really been as selfish as Sanji had said? Was everyone really that worried about him? Still, Zoro couldn't bring himself to touch the food on the plate. Not after what had just happened.

Sensing what was wrong; Robin smiled and let out a light laugh. "All right, I think I see what the problem is. Luckily for you, I have a solution."

Catching his interest, Zoro returned his attention to the archeologist. What exactly did she have in mind?

Back in the kitchen, Sanji was busy at work cleaning the dishes. Aside from various fruits, the ship was completely out of food. Gnashing the unlit cigarette in his mouth between his teeth, Sanji quickened the pace he was cleaning the plates with. That shitty swordsman, who did he think he was?

Sanji was startled to hear the door to the ship open and even more so when he saw who entered. His spirits lifting, Sanji clasped his hands together as he witnessed Robin enter the kitchen. "Oh, Robin-chwan, what an extremely pleasant surprise! What brings you here? Don't tell me it's because you finally want to admit your love, is it? Please tell me it is!"

The archeologist wore a small smile on her lips and placed one of her hands against her cheek. "Not quite, Cook-san. I came to bring you something; I think you'll understand when you see it."

Robin presented Sanji with a plate of food. He hadn't noticed it initially when she had entered since he was so enthralled by her beauty. Looking at the plate, Sanji noticed something in particular that was different from before. Instead of the meal he had brought up to begin with, Sanji now looked at exactly half of what he had given to Zoro.

Placing the plate onto the table and smiling again, Robin walked out of the room. Sanji simply stood and stared at the plate for a time before moving. A large grin found its way onto the blonde haired cook's face and he found himself chewing down again on the unlit cigarette in his mouth. This time it was out of annoyance rather than anger. "Alright then, marimo, draw."

It wasn't long until nightfall covered the Thousand Sunny. Satisfied with another relaxing day, regardless of the situation with the food, all of the Straw Hats eagerly began to go to bed, excited for what sort of adventures the next day would bring. Despite their enthusiasm, however, one fact remained in the back of their mind. If they didn't find land, and soon, they were going to be in a world of trouble.

_Ending Note: Ok, so this chapter was a little angsty, but oh well. I think it tied up nicely in the end and like I said earlier, this story is going to have the good with the bad. I also know that it's going at a slow pace, but as I've been saying I want this story to be like an arc from One Piece. It's going to take quite a bit of development before we get to the action, but I promise it will be worth it. It's been a while since I've kept myself to a set schedule in updating, and since I've returned from the beach I think I'll be able to focus on returning to one. I'll be aiming for a M/F update schedule with this story (similar to A Grave Danger) and I'll try to update GL High on Wednesdays. I think I'll be able to handle it for a while at least, so let's see how it works out. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and look forward to a long and exciting story to come!_


	4. Chapter 3

A/N: While I wanted this to be updated on Friday as well as my other story on Wednesday, my cousins from Chicago came for a week and I got pretty distracted. I know it's not much of an excuse, but it's still the reason nonetheless. I usually write my stories mid to late night, and when I do it's almost always in one sitting. On average it takes me around 3-4 hours to write a 2-3 thousand word chapter. Sometimes it takes longer, sometimes it takes less; it varies depending on how much of the chapter I know will happen before I write it. This time includes the planning, writing, reading, checking, and revising if I feel it's necessary (sometimes when I write I'm still figuring out what I want to happen or may decide to add in a little extra content in between events). I basically know all of the big events that I want to happen, it's the little stuff in between that gets difficult to write down. Anyways, enough blathering on and on about stuff you guys probably don't care about, so here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

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Robin grabbed the cup of coffee on the table in front of her and raised it to her lips. Taking a light swill of the hot beverage, the archeologist found it to be a little too bitter for her tastes. While she did enjoy the occasional cup of black coffee, she was in the mood for something a little sweeter.

Taking a cube of sugar from a small bowl next to the cup, Robin proceeded to drop it in and stir it with her spoon. After swirling the sugar around enough so that it had mostly dissolved, Robin took another sip. It was still a slight bit too bitter.

The raven haired archeologist would have like to put some cream into her coffee since it would have made her drink perfect; however they had run out not too long ago. Her eyes beginning to feel heavy and her vision slightly blurring, Robin ignored the cream and decided to settle with another cube of sugar. After adding another cube, Robin tasted the coffee for a third time. It wasn't as good as she would have liked it to be, but Robin was getting to the point where she didn't really care.

Taking a sizable swig of her beverage, Robin quickly found herself become more alert and awake. The archeologist didn't sleep much, considering the on-the-run lifestyle she was forced to endure, and as a result she came to love drinking coffee. Over the past couple of days, however, the lack of sustenance had found the archeologist becoming more tired, likely due to the weakness inherent with malnourishment. She was sure that once they found land she would be able to get a good meal and afterwards would regain her strength. So until the next island came, the archeologist was content with settling on her favorite drink. That was, if they found another island…

Robin placed her cup back onto the coaster and rubbed the bridge of her nose with her fingers. How could she think such a thought? They _would_ make it to the next island, without a doubt. When they had explained the situation regarding the log poses to the rest of the crew, Luffy had excitedly begun cheering. The black haired captain was eager for any and every adventure, and to hear that the log pose had changed directions should have meant only one thing, a new island.

Robin put her elbows on the table and rested her face against her balled hands with her cheeks pressing into her fingers. She gazed down into her half filled cup of coffee, continuing her thoughts.

Even when Nami tried to explain to the captain of how an island couldn't have possibly altered not only regular log pose, but that of the eternal pose as well, Luffy's excitement hadn't dwindled. He had stood attentively listening to the navigator, his hand rubbing his chin in thought, only to decide determinately that it must have been a mystery island and that they should head towards it immediately, pounding the bottom of his fist into his open palm in the process. Whenever someone would ask the captain what made him think it was an island, he simply stated that he just knew and that they were to go to it.

Such baseless statements were common to the black haired captain of the Straw Hat Pirates and everyone had learned to accept them, though not without pointing them out. Despite having no grounds to make his decisions or assumptions off of, Robin had noticed that Luffy had the uncanny ability to be right a lot of the time, much to the chagrin of everybody else.

Robin found herself trusting the offbeat captain more than she had trusted anyone else in her entire life aside from Saul. He had always believed in her from the moment she joined the crew and he never had a slimmer of doubt regarding the archeologist, not even when she had left the crew at Water 7. It was difficult for her to let go of some of her independence and put faith into each of the crewmembers, but Robin found it easier every day. She trusted all of them with her life and, ironically enough, was beginning to trust more and more the one who did not appear to return the sentiment.

A tuft of Robin's hair had slid free from behind her ear on her left side. Reaching up to place it back behind her ear, Robin left her hand with her fingers pressed against the side of her head, almost cupping her ear. Her thoughts began to wander to the person in question and a light smile subconsciously found its way onto her face without her realizing it.

Zoro had been avidly against the raven haired archeologist joining the ship, a point he found fitting to mention whenever he got the chance. She always found the green haired swordsman to be the most interesting member on the ship and it didn't help that he was the one she knew the least about. Robin would occasionally ask questions regarding the swordsman and his past; however she would quickly find herself dismissed by the suspecting crewmember.

Robin straightened back up and cast a glance to the side, halfway narrowing her eyes in silent remorse. Truth be told, she hadn't exactly trusted the Straw Hat crew very much after the moment she boarded their ship. The raven haired archeologist had lived a life of solitude, constantly running from those pursuing her and her past. To her, the Straw Hats were nothing more than another group of people she could associate with while attempting to achieve her own set of goals. Things had quickly changed for the archeologist, however, and she quickly found herself enjoying the company of her new associates. It wasn't long before Robin grew accustomed to their warm personalities and she began taking interests in each crewmember, figuring out their goals and deciding to do what she could to help them achieve said goals.

Putting the negative thoughts aside, Robin took the cup of coffee in her hands again and downed the rest of the drink. It had become lukewarm by that point, but it still tasted pretty good. Placing everything back on the table, the raven haired archeologist walked over to the edge of the Crow's Nest. Peering out the window overlooking the ship, Robin noted how uncharacteristically quiet it was on the Thousand Sunny. Most people would have thought the ship not to be too lively at the sight, but Robin knew better.

Even though it was quiet where she was and most likely on the deck of the ship, Robin could guess that things were as rowdy as ever in the sleeping quarters. On the nights where she tried to get some rest but could not, the raven haired archeologist would constantly hear arguments and even sometimes struggles between her sleeping nakama. Snoring always accompanied the fights and Robin couldn't help but wonder how Nami was able to sleep through the incessant racket. Every time the thought crossed her mind, she would look at her orange haired companion and every time she looked over, Robin would see a content smile on the navigator's face.

Everybody seemed so happy onboard the Thousand Sunny and Robin couldn't blame them. After all, Robin had come to believe she was among those happy individuals, a notion that earlier in her life she would have found laughable.

In her elation, the Robin found her mind wandering to the swordsman yet again. Despite his constant claims that he distrusted the raven haired archeologist, Robin continually noticed his presence by her during their travels. Searching for the southbird, being taken to and scouting Upper Garden, fighting Enel inside Shandia, and more recently the tomb on the unknown island. There had been more occasions, sure, and Robin found it peculiar how often she found herself besides the green haired swordsman despite his grievances towards her. It made her wonder just how opposed to her Zoro truly was.

Robin clutched her right arm, it still hadn't completely healed and the archeologist had experienced occasional pains in it since they left the tomb. Though there was no pain at the moment, thinking of the swordsman reminded her of their ordeal inside the ancient tomb. Her arm having been relatively injured, the swordsman had tenderly bandaged it with a piece of his own shirt. She had decided to keep the crude bandage as a reminder that even if he tried to hide it, Zoro did in fact care for her and to an extent considered her his nakama, at least that's what she told herself. Did he care for her more than she realized? Did she?

Robin continued to ponder the two questions but was distracted by a glimmer of light before she could come to a decision. Her attention grabbed, the raven haired archeologist saw the sun in the distance beginning to rise. A deep orange glow proceeded to surround the sky, coloring the clouds it touched to faded lavender. The light reflected off of the now maroon ocean, creating a beautiful picture that was only enhanced by being up in the Crow's Nest. A smile again graced Robin's lips and she wished that she could share the sight with everybody else on the ship. It was a shame that Zoro hadn't woken up yet to perform his morning workout since the archeologist quite enjoyed the rhythmic motions and sounds of his exercise.

Something else stuck out to the raven haired archeologist, however, and she peered into the distance to discover what it was. After her eyes had adjusted to the change in distance, Robin watched as an outline slowly but steadily came into view. There was no mistake about what it was, and Robin was excited to be the one to let everybody know about the good news.

Closing her eyes and crossing her arms in focus, Robin pictured the ship and inside of the sleeping quarters. Using her devil fruit abilities, Robin sprouted arms near each crewmember and awoke them, some more violently than others. Robin waited patiently for everyone to come out of their rooms to find out why they were woken and it didn't take long before most of the crew was on the deck.

The newly awoken strawhats, save Zoro and Luffy, looked expectantly up at the Crow's Nest to find out the reason for the disturbance. It wasn't until the swordsman and captain finally bumbled their way out of the men's quarters that the crew heard Robin's voice come out of the speaker under the Crow's Nest.

"If you would kindly look out to the front of the ship, I think you'll find a sight most pleasant."

Some of the crew peered over the side of the ship, looking ahead, while others simply stretched as they yawned. Without warning, Usopp raised the scopes on his goggles that he had lowered and began yelling. "Oi, guys! There's an island coming up! We've finally made it to an island and I can see buildings! It looks like the pose really was taking us somewhere."

Everybody's eyes immediately flared in excitement and their faces brightened up. With buildings meant people, and with people meant food, a fact that didn't escape the charismatic captain.

Jumping up as high as he could while punching the air in excitement, Luffy began to laugh wildly. "FOOD! We finally get to have some food on the island of meat! I want extra servings!" Looking over to the blue haired shipwright, Luffy continued as he landed on the ground. "Franky, full speed ahead! Let's use the Coup de Burst, hurry! The island is right in front of us!"

Franky crossed his arms and looked decisively at the black haired captain. "No can do, Straw Hat. We've used up but all of our cola at this point, and the little bit we have left should be saved in case the wind dies down any time soon. We'll just have to get there the old-fashioned way."

Luffy dropped his arms in defeat, his face wearing a depressed look and he slouched his shoulders. Nami began to try and console the captain while spreading out her arms, almost as if pleading with him. "Oh come on, it's not so bad! From the looks of it, we're only a few hours out. I'd say it's safe to say we can all have a decent breakfast to make up for it."

Sanji's ears twitched when he heard the idea of using the rest of their food. Brushing his hair back and scratching the top of his head, Sanji looked tiredly to the orange haired navigator, still waking up. "Are you sure, Nami-san? I'm sure that we can hold out for a little longer if it's going to take longer. We can split the rest of the food into two meals just in case."

Nami turned to the blonde haired cook with a begging look on her face, almost that of a puppy. She brought the side of her arms against the sides of her body and pressed her fists against each other under her chin. "You don't believe me, Sanji-kun? That's awful to hear." The navigator reached down and placed one hand on her stomach, looking at it wistfully. "I've hardly had anything to eat over the past couple of days; don't you think you can help with that, just this once?" Nami continued by changing her look from that of earnest to one of accusation. "Or do you want me to suffer?"

Completely taken aback by her sudden allegation, Sanji nearly fell over backwards. "YES, NAMI-SAN! I'll put every last bit of food we have out for a grand breakfast! I'll make sure yours is even more special than usual for even thinking of doubting you!" With that, the blonde haired cook darted into the kitchen to prepare the meal.

Zoro walked over to Nami, yawning in the process. Giving her a stern look, the swordsman began to wave his hand from side to side. "That was a bit over the top, don't you think? Still, I'm rather looking forward to a larger meal; it's been far too long since we had one. Good thing that damned love-cook is so easy to manipulate."

Nami turned to the swordsman and looked at him with an extremely mischievous expression on her face, a devious smile accompanying it. "What are you talking about, Zoro? You're just about as easy to manipulate as Sanji is."

Growing red in the face with anger, Zoro gritted his teeth as he placed his hand at his side, using the other to point directly into the navigator's face. "What are you talking about, huh? Me as easy to control as that dumbass? As if. I don't know where you get off saying something like that."

Nami placed her hands on her hips and leaned towards the green haired swordsman, her countenance remaining the same aside from narrowing her eyes and the smile turning into a large grin. "Is that so? I only have one word to say to you, debt." The mention of Zoro's debt caused the swordsman to grimace as an exasperated grunt escaped him.

Nami winked one eye and looked at Zoro playfully. "You know, one of the conditions of removing your debt still stands. All you have to do is admit it to me. Do that and I'll get rid of your debt."

If Zoro's face wasn't red with anger, it certainly would have been then from embarrassment. "I have no idea what you're talking about, hag. There's nothing for me to admit to, so stop bothering me about it. Besides, I got you the diamond; I don't see why I owe you anything anymore! You know what? I'm done with this, I've already settled my debt and I'm not going to do it again at your whim."

Nami took one step back and leaned slightly backwards, relaxing her hands on the back of her head with her elbows spread outwards. "Don't lie, you know exactly what I'm talking about, and until you admit it to me, I'm not getting rid of your debt. And I have to wonder, Zoro, what kind of swordsman isn't able to repay a single debt? You've owed me for how long is it now, since Loguetown? How can you sleep at night, knowing you haven't settled a debt you owe to somebody for that long, and now you want to just drop it? For shame, Zoro, for shame."

Robin had finished her descent from the Crow's Nest and saw the two fighting. Zoro now stood hunched over with his fists up as though he was ready to trade blows with Nami, though Robin knew it was a verbal fight rather than a physical one. Upon closer inspection, Robin noticed how red Zoro's face was from Nami's torture and found it to be rather cute. The archeologist rested her posture on one foot and flipped her hair back. She always enjoyed seeing the green haired swordsman being put on the spot and even more so when it got to him.

After a time, Sanji finally exited from the kitchen and called everybody inside to feast. The crew quickly piled into the kitchen, more than ready to finally have a decent sized meal. They needed to gather their strength since they were steadily approaching the next island on their long journey. Nobody knew what was in store for them, but that was half of the fun.

_Ending Note: Whew, that was exhausting. This chapter took a looooot longer than I expected it to and it also turned out differently as well. Wasn't planning to have so much inner monologue, but I think it turned out well and I like it. I know this chapter has a lot of throwbacks to A Grave Danger, but since it's a continuation of the story it's going to happen a lot. Certain things that happened in A Grave Danger will drive this story along, so I'd suggest reading it if you haven't already. If you've liked this story up to now, you'll definitely like AGD (plus it has gratuitous action from chapters 4-6, though not too much in 4). Anyways, going to try my best to follow through my updating schedule this week, so look forward to more updates this week (definitely won't be a week in between). Well, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and as always I request that you drop by and leave a review! Lastly, I'm thinking of using Straw Hats as a general reference to the crew while using strawhats as a direct reference to one/all of them as a collective whole (like a person/subject doing something), if that makes any sense. Just to clear up any possible confusions (hopefully I didn't create any new ones, haha)._


	5. Chapter 4

A/N: Hello again! No, I'm not dead, haha. I know it's been a while since my last update (man, has it really been almost three weeks? Yikes) and I'm sorry that I didn't mention anything about it. From now on if I have anything going on IRL and I feel I need to take a small hiatus or something I'll put it in my profile (which I _still_ can't do without it being a giant chunk of unseparated text, argh). I used the new method of writing for this chapter, how did it turn out? At some point in the future I might revisit older chapters and possibly AGD to restructure the wording so it's better and more consistent. Anyways, I think for right now that I'm going to stay with a twice a week update schedule like I've done before. Once I get settled back into school I think it should be easier and maybe I'll be able to increase it. I know that I've seriously been neglecting my other story, GL High, in favor of this arc but I'll do my best to get working on that again. Also, Santoryuu Soccer and I are working on a collaborative short story right now, so that should be coming out pretty soon. Look forward to that and more! Enjoy.

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Breakfast had revitalized the strawhats and it wasn't long before each member went about preparing for their arrival at the island and consequently their new adventure.

Nami walked to the front of the ship and looked through the small telescope that she was carrying. Even though she could clearly see features on the unknown island they were still an hour or so from the shore. After closing up the telescope Nami reached behind herself and used the object to scratch her lower back, closing her eyes and sighing as she slumped her shoulders. The navigator directed her attention to the log pose resting on her left wrist. It pointed almost straight ahead, turning slightly to the left more and more the closer they got to shore.

The pose was pointing to the village that Usopp had spotted earlier in the morning and whatever was causing the interference had to be in there. The orange haired navigator had directed the ship slightly to the right from where they were approaching. There was no telling how a pirate ship would be greeted and it was always better to be on the side of caution in regards to the matter. Finding an isolated spot to anchor their ship at was one of the most fundamental and important things to do when first landing on an island and Nami wasn't going to have this time be any different.

"Are we almost there yet? How much longer?"

A familiar voice rang in the navigator's ears and she turned to look into the eyes of the captain of the ship only inches from her own. Startled by the sudden nearness of the rubber captain, Nami yelped and took a step back, tripping on her own foot in the process. Before the orange haired navigator could fall backwards into the railing of the ship and probably off the ship, she was caught in the strong grasps of her captain.

Nami was completely at a loss of how to react to the situation. Her idiot of a captain nearly scared her to death and almost caused her to fall off of the ship. Said captain also currently had her in his grasp, staring deep into her eyes, almost expectantly. The navigator felt a light sensation in her chest and couldn't think straight at all.

A small length of time passed by before Luffy's smile eventually waned, slowly becoming replaced by a confused frown. He tilted his head to the side, Nami still in his grasp.

"Oi, Nami, what's wrong? I asked you about how long it's going to take to get to the island and you're just standing there saying nothing."

Nami couldn't believe her ears. Not only had he needlessly surprised her just a moment ago, but now he was talking to her like she hadn't just almost fallen overboard and that it was him that prevented it from happening. To top it all off, he kept a grip on her that for whatever reason she was sure he wasn't letting go of anytime soon; or at least until she answered her question, anyways.

Was he really this dense? The navigator had come to understand that Luffy wasn't the brightest person around; even still, she gave him the benefit of the doubt when it came to human interaction. Yet, time and again the black haired captain astonished Nami with just how naive he could actually be.

"Nami, hello? Are you even listening? Do you have a fever or something again? Your face is all red…"

That was it, she'd had enough. Nami reached up with both of her arms and placed her hands on each of Luffy's arms, just below his shoulders. After a surprised grunt came from the rubber captain, Nami looked dead center into his eyes.

"Luffy… you…"

Nami threw the black haired captain's arms down. The force from Nami's tug caused Luffy to lean dangerously forwards and had shifted his trademark straw hat out of position. The orange haired navigator sidestepped what would have been an extremely awkward situation and raised her fist into the air, afterwards driving it into the back of Luffy's head as he took a step forwards to correct his balance.

"HAVE TO BE THE BIGGEST IDIOT I'VE EVER MET!"

The black haired captain wailed as he was propelled face-first into the deck of the ship, his feet flying into the air which arched his back. The blow to the back of his head caused the shifted hat to come loose and Luffy's treasure began floating off into the distance.

Nami yelled in concern at the flying straw hat and half threw herself into the railing towards it. Keeping one arm on the railing to prevent her from toppling over, Nami leaned as far as she could towards her captain's treasure and swung her free hand at it. Her fingers, just barely out of reach, only managed to hit the edge of the hat and it caused the hat to begin flipping in the air. The straw hat then began to plummet towards the sea and Nami's cry of concern changed into a scream of terror as she was about to cause her captain to lose his most prized possession.

Just as the straw hat was about to hit the water and get dragged under the ship, a pair of arms sprouted from the bow, succeeding in where the navigator had failed by seizing the hat seconds before it disappeared into the depths of the dark blue water. Nami watched in utter relief as the arms began to relay the hat back towards the middle of the ship and consequently to the one who had summoned them.

The orange haired navigator turned her back to the ocean and slumped against the railing, slowly descending into a sitting position. She raised her left hand to her forehead and ran it through her hair, letting the hand rest on the back of her head. Looking to her left she saw Luffy bent over on the ground clutching the back of his head, groaning in pain. The rubber captain continued to rub the back of his head for another couple of seconds before realizing that something was missing.

"AHHHH, MY HAT. Where is it?!" Luffy had a panicked tone in his voice and he scrambled around the ground looking for his straw hat. The rubber captain paused his search when he heard footsteps approaching directly in front of him.

Luffy looked up only to see the helm blocking his view. The captain then stood up and walked over to the helm, jumping high enough to grasp the top with his arms and he hoisted himself up enough to see who was coming. The black haired captain watched as the archeologist of the Straw Hats finished climbing the stairs, twirling a straw hat, his straw hat, on her finger.

"Is this what you are looking for, Luffy?" Robin asked politely to the rubber captain and couldn't help but smile when she saw his enthusiastic response.

"Haha yeah! Thanks, Robin!"

Luffy continued to laugh excitedly and stretched his right arm to the raven haired archeologist, taking the hat off of her finger. Snapping his arm back, the rubber captain placed the hat back onto its rightful spot. Since his right arm no longer helped to support his weight nor keep his balance on the helm, Luffy couldn't prevent the helm from beginning to turn towards his left. Before he could react, the captain was thrown to the ground and the wheel began to spin uncontrollably, causing the Thousand Sunny to immediately begin turning to the right.

Nami had been yelling at the black haired captain throughout the whole ordeal to not hang onto the helm and it came as no surprise to her that Luffy managed changed their course. Keeping her temper in check for the moment, Nami calmly walked over to the helm and stopped the rampant turning, taking her time to readjust their course. The only thing that the shift had changed was the angle they were approaching from, so it wasn't that big of a deal and didn't set them back at all.

After she had finished, Nami walked over to the rubber captain who was sitting cross-legged on the ground, brushing dirt off of his shirt. His face lit up when he noticed the orange haired navigator standing over him and grinned happily at her.

"Whoops, haha. Sorry about that, Nami, just happy to get my hat back!"

Nami looked down her nakama and couldn't help but imitate the very same grin that he wore. It was extremely hard to stay irritated at the oaf and Nami couldn't recall a time when she was genuinely angry at him. Sure, there were moments when he made her want to pummel him into the dirt, but Nami had never once despised the rubber captain and the thought of such a feeling had never crossed her mind.

"Yeah, yeah, just be more careful from now on, idiot. I don't want to tell you not to sit on or hang on the mast any more than I already have, so don't do it anymore, ok?"

After she asked the question, Nami placed her hands on her hips, continuing to stare into Luffy's eyes, the two of them grinning at each other. Luffy laughed casually and began to stand up, keeping his hat on his head with his free hand.

"Oh, and we're about 30 minutes from the island right now. Go tell everybody to finish getting ready."

"YOSH! I can't wait for our next adventure! Think they'll have meat? I'm going to eat two servings of it. No, wait, I meant three servings! Yeah, three! Or maybe four…"

Luffy continued to ponder for a moment before finally pounding the bottom of his closed right hand into the palm of the left.

"YOSH! I've decided. I'm going to have eight servings of meat when we land!"

Luffy ran over to the staircase and began to descend towards the living quarters.

"Wait, Luffy!" Nami yelled out to the black haired captain before he disappeared out of view. When he stopped and turned to look back at her, the navigator continued. "Be sure to change your clothes, you've been wearing the same thing for the past few days now and they're starting to smell. For that matter, tell everyone to change. Geeze, sometimes it feels like some of you guys hardly wear anything different."

"Oh, ok. I'll let the guys know."

After Luffy had finally left, Robin walked over to the orange haired navigator and leaned against the railing in front of her. Looking at the navigator, Robin tucked a tuft of hair behind her ear before letting the hand rest against her face.

"My, my, I'm surprised how calmly you acted towards Luffy."

Nami turned from facing the staircase to facing her new companion. The navigator couldn't discern what the archeologist was getting at, nor the expression she wore on her face. She could, however, sense the mischievous look in the woman's eyes. The archeologist always got that look when she was up to no good.

Nami shrugged.

"What do you mean? It's not like he drastically changed our course or anything. All it took was some readjustment and everything was back to normal."

"As I recall, the last time he even touched the wheel ended up with him running for his life from you." Robin crossed her legs and tilted her head to the side. "It just seems unusual for you to treat him that way.

Nami stopped to consider what the archeologist had just said. After a moment's pause, she leaned forwards, narrowing her eyes at the raven haired woman.

"What are you trying to say, Robin? Are you insinuating something?"

Robin spread her arms out while shrugging her shoulders.

"I'm not trying to say anything, Nami. I'm just merely stating an observation, you can take that as you'd like."

Unconvinced, Nami closed her eyes in thought. She could tell that the archeologist was definitely up to something, but still couldn't figure out what it was. The orange haired navigator decided to straighten up and began to stretch her arms into the air to help her think. It was then that a certain swordsman popped into her mind and something that he had said to her a while ago.

Nami jolted at the realization of what Robin truly may have been hinting at. The navigator attempted to hide her concern and embarrassment by crossing her arms and putting on a pouty face.

"He didn't give you any ideas, did he?"

Robin shifted slightly, looking confused.

"Who are you talking about?"

"That stupid swordsman, of course. He's been giving me a hard time about me and Luffy and I'm guessing he told you that to get back at me, that's definitely something he would do."

Nami's eyes shot open after she uttered the last sentence. She realized that she had made a huge error in telling the archeologist about what Zoro was accusing her of without actually knowing if he had told her. The navigator began to look wearily, expecting raven haired archeologist to mention something about what she had just said. She did not disappoint.

"What about you and Luffy? What could Kenshi-san give you a hard time about regarding the two of you?" A smile slowly appeared on Robin's face.

"Nothing at all, I don't even know what he's getting at." Nami's speech quickened and she sounded flustered. "There's nothing going on between the two of us, so there's nothing to make a big deal out of."

Robin continued to press on the point.

"You sound awfully defensive about it, Nami. Are you sure there isn't anything going on?"

The navigator finally decided that it was time to change the subject and to get the spotlight off of her, and she knew exactly how she was going to do it. Relaxing her body, Nami grew an aura of confidence and took a cocky pose by resting all of her weight on her right foot, leaning slightly in the same direction with her hands back on her hips.

"Absolutely, but that's enough about me. Speaking of Zoro, what's the deal with the two of you?" Nami beamed at the archeologist, successful in her plan.

If the question affected Robin in any way, she didn't show it at all. Without moving, the quizzical look from before found its way onto Robin's countenance.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Kenshi-san and I are merely friends, nothing more."

"Uh huh, that's what he keeps saying, but we both know he's full of it, don't we? Admit it, you like him. It's written all over your faces anyways, I don't see why the two of you don't get it over with."

Robin's eyebrow twitched slightly before she crossed her arms behind her back, resting them on the railing.

"I didn't realize we were on that particular topic. Do you mean to say that I was suggesting you liked Luffy? It must have been on your mind otherwise I can't imagine why you'd bring it up. Does that mean you like Luffy?"

Nami swore to herself. Damn, Robin sure was both cunning when it came to discussions, but then again she'd have to be with what she had gone through. The navigator had one of her hands clenched in a fist and she suspected that the raven haired archeologist standing across from her had something similar hiding behind her back, even if not as extreme.

Across the ship, Usopp had looked over to the two women after the ship had randomly turned. Watching from after Luffy had informed him about finishing getting ready after he came down the stairs, the sniper could only watch in a strange sense of fear. If tension could be seen, the curly haired sniper felt as though there would be not only sparks coming from the two, but bolts of lightning as well. He couldn't begin to imagine the discussion, but Usopp knew better than to go over and find out for himself.

Usopp became distracted from the women's conversation when he saw that they were almost close enough to anchor their ship. Looking back to the two by the helm, the sniper decided that he'd better grab their attention before they let the Thousand Sunny run into the island.

"Oi, we're about to hit the island! Find us a place to stop at and get off of the ship so we can finally get on with this!"

Hearing the sniper's yell, the two quarreling strawhats directed their attention to the oncoming island. The village they had seen earlier had at some point disappeared from view and instead was replaced by thick forests. There were distinguishable paths from what the two could see, but nothing that clearly indicated which road they should take and in what direction. Directly in front of the ship was a relatively large beach, and it appeared as though they were at the very edge of it. Looking to the left, the two pirates saw that the beach stretched out further than they could see and there were occasional dots that looked like people on it.

Nami noticed something a little towards the ship's right that caught her attention. It was a small cove that their ship could easily fit in and there were small mountainous overgrowths of rock that surrounded the cove, perfect for hiding a pirate vessel. Walking over to the helm, the orange haired navigator altered the ship's heading in the direction of the cove and was able to make it inside without getting caught in the sand.

The anchor was dropped into the water and it didn't have to fall far before it stopped moving and grabbed a hold in the bottom of the water, keeping the Thousand Sunny firmly in place and making sure that it wasn't going anywhere. The Straw Hat pirates had finally made it to their destination and were more than eager to see what was on this new island.

_Ending note: Again, my sincerest apologies for the almost three week hiatus. I call it that now because saying I was missing updates wouldn't be explaining it right and I didn't get the urge to write for a while. I have enough content in mind for easily another update this Friday, and with any luck the first chapter of the collab story will come out sometime this week as well. At the very least there will be one more update by next Monday, be it on Friday or on Saturday. Anyways, it might seem like I'm focusing pretty intently on pairings right now, but once we start getting into the meat of the story things will pick up and it will get much better. I'm very glad I was able to get this chapter out today (it's my birthday, woohoo!) and I really hope the quality is there. Part of the reason I delay updates is because if I force it I feel like the quality of the story will drop, and that's not something I want to happen. I'd much rather give you guys good 2.5-3.5k word chapters 1-2 times a week than mediocre 1.5-2k word chapters more often (if I have the desire to write those kinds of updates, I'll put them in Afternoon Nap [going to change the name], consider it my drabble/one shot location). Hopefully you guys feel the same way. Welp, before this gets too long, I hope you enjoyed the story and there will be more this week!_


	6. Chapter 5

A/N: Back again, and this time with a kick! I've posted something in my profile regarding my latest absence (the fact I use the word latest is pretty sad) and other things, so if you're any interested just drop in and read it. In any case, going to add some _fun_ information, and by that I mean information I would find interesting as a reader so I'll put it in for kicks. I don't know if I've made any guarantees in my time writing stories here, generally I think I just say I'm going to do / try to do something regardless of the outcome. With that said, I guarantee an update this Friday and I'm going to actually return to the M/F update schedule starting now, so there's that (the guarantee applies to this Friday, but I'll hold the M/F schedule for a while). Lastly, I'd have released the collab a while ago but Santoryuu Soccer has yet to get back to me, if you're reading this Santoryuu, check your mail! **B |** That's my super angry face, so you know I mean business.

Creation time: ~4 1/2 hours.

Written over: 2 days.

Suggested song: Reckless by Crystal Castles

-----------------------------

"All right, we've docked. I want everybody over here listening to me before we get off the ship."

After she had caught the attention of most of the crew, the orange haired navigator continued.

"Good. As always, keep in mind that these people may not be very pleased to have pirates among their ranks. Even though we all have bounties now, there's still a chance this town hasn't received the new ones yet and they may not recognize us. Try not to bring too much attention to yourselves; I'd like a simple docking for a change."

Looking at the motley crew of pirates in front of her, Nami realized that her words had no bearing on how any of them would act, least of all the one with the highest bounty. Sighing to herself in silent defeat, the navigator put aside her desires for a peaceful encounter with an island.

"Anyways, we'll be splitting off into groups for the first day to get the necessary tasks done. First off, we need… Hey!! What is wrong with you?!"

Distracted mid-sentence by one of the strawhats, Nami angrily pointed at the crewmate in question.

Zoro, who had just walked up to the group, saw the navigator point a finger aggressively in his direction. Wondering what it was she was so upset about, the swordsman began looking around to find the source of her irritation.

"I'm pointing at YOU, Zoro!"

"Wha… me?" The swordsman grunted in confusion and surprise.

"Yes you! I thought I told everyone to change into something else. You've been wearing that outfit non-stop for ages now and it's become nothing less than an eyesore! Not to mention you've been wearing that for the past week now, that's disgusting!"

Zoro took a step back in response to the navigator's allegation before raising a clinched fist to the woman.

"I'll have you know these clothes are clean! Besides, what does it matter to you what I wear or don't wear? It's my decision to make and I happen to like this look!"

Nami turned her attention to the blonde haired cook standing not too far away from her.

"Sanji-kun, would you mind getting me a glass of wine? We still have some left, don't we?"

The cook jumped to attention, clasping his hands together and swooning about the navigator.

"Of course, Nami-san! I'd be happy to get you a glass right away! Oh, Robin-chan, would you like some as well?"

"No thanks," the archeologist calmly responded.

Usopp brought his hand to his chin and began to rub it, thinking to himself for a moment before deciding that some wine sounded pretty good.

"Oi, could you get me some too, Sanji?"

Upon hearing the request from the sniper, Sanji turned to the strawhat with a completely uninterested look on his face.

"Get it yourself."

Usopp clenched his fist and raised it to the blonde haired cook in response the cook's dismissive and curt reply.

"Whaaaaaaat? You're already going to get a glass and you offered to get Robin one, so what's the problem with giving hers to me instead? Jerk!"

Sanji reached into his coat pocket and out his last cigarette from box in his hands. Taking out a match from the same pocket as well, the blonde haired cook rested the narcotic gently on the edge of his mouth before striking the match on a barrel next to him. Sparks flickered from the edge of the match as a flaring light that diminished into a wavering flame took form.

Cupping his free hand over the match to prevent the cool breeze from extinguishing the small fire, Sanji bent his head forwards and raised the match to the cigarette hanging off of the side of his mouth. The cook puffed lightly with his mouth to light the cigarette more effectively and after it enkindled Sanji took a deep breath, enjoying the sensation that the first drag always brought.

Exhaling the smoke inside of his lungs, Sanji coolly returned his gaze to Nami before he completely lost his composure to the beautiful sight of the navigator.

"All right, then! Give me just a moment, Nami-san, and I'll get you that glass of wine you want!"

"Oi, bastard, don't ignore me!" Usopp yelled out in frustration.

Ignoring the curly haired sniper, Sanji walked over to the kitchen and shortly after returned with a single glass of red wine. Continuing to ignore the outcry of the sniper at the inconsideration the cook showed for his crew, Sanji excitedly handed the wine-filled glass to the navigator before beginning to return to the kitchen to take stock on what they needed most. Before he could get too far, the blonde haired cook found himself pleasantly interrupted by Nami.

"Hold on, Sanji-kun, I still need to divide everyone into groups before we head out for the first day. There're certain things that have to get done first and foremost and it would be easiest if everyone knew beforehand what needs to get done."

After the cook had stopped his leave to the kitchen and returned to the group, Nami continued on, taking a sip of wine from her glass.

"Right then, right now what we need above all else is food. We've all been sparsely eating the past week, so I think I speak for everyone when I say that a good meal is in order. Sanji will come with me, Luffy, and Usopp so we can manage what food needs to get bought…"

Nami was cut off by the Usopp at the mention of his name.

"Me? What do you need me to come with you guys for?" Slumping his shoulders to his side and pouting, the sniper continued. "Sheesh, and I wanted to go off on my own for a little bit for a change."

Nami straightened up in response to the curly haired sniper, placing one of her hands to her side while tilting the glass of wine towards the sniper, swirling the contents around in the glass as she held it out.

"Well, the other thing we need to do other than get food is to find someone who will buy our diamond. That's a close second in importance and it will be easier to find a buyer with more people."

Rubbing his chin again in thought, Usopp's mind began to wander to previous events. If she was going to try to find a buyer for the diamond, then that means she was going to…

Usopp's eyes shot open at the realization of what Nami's group was going to be doing. Just like at Water 7, she was going to try to find a buyer for their goods, only this time for the diamond instead of gold.

"There's no way I can do that, I've suddenly contracted I-can't-go-on-this-island-with-valuable-items disease. If I do anything like that, I'm certain to die!" The sniper coughed the sentence out through clenched teeth and he held his throat with his hands as if he was choking on something.

Nami leaned against the wall that bordered the men's quarters, crossing her arms while a devious smile bore its way onto her face.

"So does that mean you'll be staying here on the ship, then?"

"Absolutely, there's no way I can go with you guys into town if that's what you'll be doing!" Usopp yelled as he furiously shook his head up and down to show his resolve.

Nami recovered her stance and stood up straight once again, taking another sip of wine from her glass with closed eyes, the scheming smile continuing to reside.

"All right then. That makes things much simpler for us. You'll stay here on the ship with Chopper and the two of you will guard the diamond while the rest of us go on the island to find a buyer."

Usopp continued to shake his head before having one final nod in confirmation to what Nami said.

"Yosh, I'll stay here with Chopper while you guys go out and find a buyer and we'll guard… the… d… d… DIAMOND?!?" The resolve in Usopp's voice had dwindled while he spoke the sentence as he slowly realized exactly what Nami had conned him into doing before incredulously screaming the last statement in a shrill voice.

"W-w-w-w-wait just a second here! I thought you were going to bring it with you so you could sell it? Why do **I** have to stay here and guard the diamond?"

Nami's eyes broadened in confusion and her smile disappeared.

"What do you mean? You'll have chopper with you as well." The navigator's eyes narrowed and the smirk appeared again. "Besides, I never said that I was going to sell the diamond or that we would be bringing it with us. This thing is far too valuable to idly walk around with, I don't want people knowing where it is or that we have it until we're ready to make the transaction."

As Usopp continued his argument against having to guard the diamond, Chopper raised his hand to get the attention of the navigator.

"What is it, Chopper?" Nami asked the doctor. She noticed that he almost looked disappointed.

"Do I really have to stay behind today? I was hoping to get a chance to explore this new island and see if they had any new books I could look at."

Nami walked up to the reindeer and patted him on the top of the head.

"But Chopper, guarding the diamond is the most important job there is right now!"

The reindeer's eyes widened with excitement at the thought that he was going to have the most important job, however something the navigator had said earlier bothered him.

"Wait, didn't you say that getting food was the most important thing right now?"

"Well yeah, but we can't buy any of that, your books included, without money. That's why it's so important to protect the diamond, so we can have money in the future to spend on all of these things."

Nami clasped her hands together and her eyes reflected that money was on her mind.

"Not to mention that beautiful diamond could easily get hundreds of millions of beli, maybe even billions!"

Both the navigator and the doctor were swaying from side to side, ecstatic in their train of thought. After a few moments of absorption in their happiness, Chopper looked down to his stomach.

"But I'm still kind of hungry though and I could really go for something to eat right now."

As if it was his cue, Sanji walked over to the reindeer and leaned over in front of him, taking out his cigarette and placing his free hand in his pocket.

"What are you in the mood for? Anything, you name it."

Chopper looked up excitedly to the cook and yelled "takoyaki" with a large grin on his face.

Sanji straightened up and placed the cigarette back on his mouth, half chewing on it with his teeth.

"All right, then. I'll get ingredients for it and the first thing I'm going to do when I get back is make you an extra large batch of the best takoyaki that you've ever had. Sound good?"

Chopper nodded.

Nami returned to her spot at the entrance to the men's quarters, continuing to ignore the complaints from Usopp.

"Now that that's all settled, it's time to move on. Franky, since Usopp graciously agreed to stay behind on the ship, I'm going to ask you to come with us. Namely, I'd like you to help Sanji with the food supplies. It'd be hard for him to carry everything around by himself."

"Sure thing, sis."

Nami grinned to herself, with the way things were; the only two left not in a group yet were Zoro and Robin.

_Perfect, now just to get them on the same task and the plan will have been a complete success._

The orange haired navigator looked around for the swordsman, wondering where he was now that he was on her mind. She noticed him at the side of the ship, leaning against the railing with his swords resting against his shoulder. The green haired swordsman's head was bobbing up and down and it was easy to see that he had slept through the entire speech. Not to mention he was still wearing that god-awful white shirt that he always wore.

Taking a sip of her wine, Nami yelled at the swordsman.

"Hey, Zoro. ZORO!"

The yell easily awakened the slumbering strawhat and he looked at the navigator with heavy eyes as he scratched them. Standing up slowly, the green haired swordsman walked over to the navigator, looking a slight bit irritated.

"What is it? Are we leaving yet?"

"Not yet, I was going over some things and—"

Nami spilled the rest of the contents of her glass onto the swordsman.

"Whoops, my bad! I slipped a little bit there. Sorry about your shirt, I guess you're going to have to get a new one since that stain definitely isn't going to come out."

Zoro looked down at where he had felt the wine hit his body and was shocked to see that red splotches now covered what was his last clean shirt.

"You! What was that for? Slipped my ass! You were standing still! What am I going to do now, this was my last shirt!"

Nami reached into her pocket and pulled out a small wad of Beli before handing it to the swordsman.

"Here, this is my way of saying sorry. Go ahead and buy yourself a new shirt while you're out."

Zoro looked suspiciously at the orange haired navigator before he hesitantly took the money from her hands. He would have preferred to not take the money but he was completely broke as it was.

"There we go; I'll just go ahead and add that to your current debt. Oh, one more thing, if you buy another white shirt, I swear that I will increase your debt even more."

Zoro took a step backwards in complete shock at what the navigator had just told him. Not only did she just ruin his shirt, but she also had the audacity to charge him money for it? The swordsman could hardly believe that the woman could be so evil.

"Hold on, first you stain my shirt, then you charge me for it? What's the deal here? I shouldn't have to pay you anything here and you should be offering to buy me a new shirt!"

Nami placed the glass on the ground then crossed her arms.

"Fine, have it your way, but only if you get a different color at the very least. I'm tired of you wearing the same thing every single day."

The navigator paused to think to herself.

"Oh I know, how about you get an orange shirt, wouldn't that be nice?"

"Not a chance. If you'll excuse me, I'll be back in a little."

Taking that as a cue that the swordsman was going to the washroom to vainly attempt to clean up his shirt, Nami turned to Robin.

"Ok then. Robin, I'm going to need you to gather some information for me such as when our log pose should align itself with this island's magnetic wavelength and other things about the island. See if you can find out anything about the situation we're in as well, there's bound to be other ships that were affected by this other than us so anything you can find will be useful. Oh, and keep an eye out for anyone who would buy the diamond as well, the more that look for someone the better the chance we have at finding them."

Robin casually nodded to the navigator before watching something to her side. Nami didn't notice the archeologist's change in attention and continued with her request.

"You should take Zoro with you, Robin. He's bound to get lost without anyone with him and you're the best suited for it. Anyways, we already have enough people with us and Usopp and Chopper are staying back here on the ship."

It was then that Nami noticed that Robin was distracted by something. Before she could ask what Robin was looking at, the archeologist returned her gaze to the navigator.

"Well I would. But it looks like Kenshi-san has already gone out on his own, unfortunately." the raven haired archeologist stated as she pointed to her left, the direction to where the island was bordering the side of the ship and the direction where just moments ago Zoro had gotten off.

"WHAT?" Nami yelled as she ran over to the side in question.

Peering over, Nami could see the green haired swordsman walking across the beach in the opposite direction from where the town had been spotted. He was far out of earshot, so it would be useless to call out to him. Before Nami could consider sending someone out to get the swordsman, Zoro walked up the coast and disappeared from sight.

The orange haired navigator swore under her breath. The last thing she wanted to worry about was trying to find Zoro on an island they knew nothing about.

"Since I don't have to wait for anyone, I'm going to go on ahead, Nami-chan. I'll keep an eye out for Kenshi-san as well, so don't worry about him."

"Yeah, sure. Meet back here later tonight so we can go over all of the information."

Robin nodded to the navigator before getting off of the ship and onto the island, heading towards the original town they had sighted.

Nami looked back to the direction that Zoro had gone off alone in before rubbing her forehead with her open palm in frustration.

"That idiot."

-----------------------------

A shrouded figure leaned back in his chair, bringing a glass mug of ale up to his mouth before taking a long drink from it. Throwing his weight forward, the chair the man sat upon hit the ground intensely and he slammed his glass onto the table in front of him, causing some of the contents to spill over the side.

Clenching the glass so tightly in his grip that his knuckles whitened and his hand shook, the figure leaned forward with a maniacal grin on his face. A low and rough chuckle began to echo around the desolate room.

"Garand, you can stop now."

A somewhat lanky, yet built man walked into the room, scratching the back of his head.

"I can stop? Stop what?" Garand spoke in a confused tone.

"What do you think I mean?" The figure responded in a deep growl, "the ship we need is here and soon _it_ will be mine."

Garand cocked his head to the side and looked at his captain. The room was barely lit as it was aside from the occasional sparkle from what little light there was reflecting off of various spots in the room. Even still, Garand was able to tell that his captain's eyes were wide open and stark white aside from the lines of bloodshot red covering them. The only other thing that Garand was able to see clearly on the figure was the pale grey hair that covered his head. The color always bothered Garand since it made his captain look rather ghastly; at least when he was in sunlight the color darkened.

"Are you sure? There's no guarantee that they'll stay on this island if their pose returns to normal. Besides, if we leave things as they are, the crew on that ship is bound to come this way. They'll try to find the source of the alteration and that will lead them to us."

Garand was startled to see the darkened figure dart his eyes at the lanky individual. If he had less resolve and didn't know any better, Garand was sure that he would've run in fear for his life.

"Garand, if you ever question me like that again, I'll kill you. You raise a valid point, however. Keep it up for a little longer and keep an eye out for people asking about the frequency change. Use any means necessary to get all the information that you can out of anyone that does."

Garand closed up all but his pointer and middle finger on his right hand and waved it back and forth to the shadowed figure dispassionately.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll tell the others to do the same, though I don't know much information some of them will be able to get considering how they go about things. I'll get back to you when something gets discovered." The tone at which Garand spoke was very indifferent, and he shrugged his shoulders as he walked out of the building.

Ignoring the lack of interest in his words or perhaps not noticing, the grey haired figure continued to gaze malevolently into his drink. The thought of the item he desired coming into his possession continued to eat at the man and his grip continued to tighten until the glass in his hand shattered. Opening his hand and looking at it, the man tilted his hand to the side and watched the shattered pieces of glass slide off onto the table and into the puddle of ale, revealing a completely unscathed palm.

"Yes… soon it will be mine. Soon… soon…"

-----------------------------

Zoro looked around the heavy foliage and trees that surrounded him. He was certain that he had headed in the direction that the town was supposedly at, so where was the damn place?

"Oh well, no big deal, I'm sure I'll find it eventually."

As if in direct response to his words the swordsman began to hear noises unrelated to the forest he was in, noises of civilization. Pushing through the brush ahead of him, a clearing opened up that nearly caused the green haired swordsman to do a double-take before accepting what he was looking at.

_Ending note: Woohoo! Back and better than ever! Yes, I'm going to stick to my word on this one. Monday and Friday updates are to resume with this story and we should be getting into a little action soon. It won't all be in one chunk like it was in my last story, so there will be plenty to look forward to. One thing though that I should mention. As I've been saying since I started this is all an attempt to become a better writer and to improve my storytelling. We're getting to the point now where I can't keep attention on just one aspect of the story. I'm going to have to jump around from character to character and things are going to happen at different intervals of time. I'm going to try to effectively connect everything together so it creates one tangential timeline that is easy to follow, but it's a first time experience here. I'll be updating the summary periodically to clear up any confusion that may arise regarding the series of events. Basically what I'm saying is that a lot is going to happen, a lot. I'm going to be dealing with a lot of characters here and hopefully I'll be able to make it interesting and not too jumpy, let's hope, haha._


	7. Chapter 6

A/N: So far, so good here. Sorry about the lateness of this one, had most of it written last night but came to a standstill since I didn't know how I wanted to proceed. Anyways, planning on keeping to schedule again for a Monday update, so expect something around then. Already mentioned it in PM, but thanks for the input Lochrann (and for the errors you just pointed out haha)! It was definitely a valid point and it crossed my mind when I put it in but I liked how the description turned out so I just decided to leave it in. I'll probably go back and make it less detailed to stay consistent and I'll save that paragraph for another time haha. We're finally starting to get into the meat of this story so be ready! I always like tossing little details and small hints here and there that will come up later in my stories so keep your eyes open for them. Hope you all like this chapter as much as the previous ones. Enjoy.

Creation time: 4 ½ hours.

Written over: 1 ½ days (two sessions).

**Suggested song: The Sun Smells Too Loud by Mogwai **(perfect song for the chapter)

-----------------------------

Robin looked from where Zoro had just gotten off of the ship back to Nami again.

"Since I don't have to wait for anyone, I'm going to go on ahead, Nami-chan. I'll keep an eye out for Kenshi-san as well, so don't worry about him."

"Yeah, sure. Meet back here later tonight so we can go over all of the information."

Nodding her head to the navigator in understanding, Robin walked up the staircase behind Nami and opened the door to the women's quarters. Once inside, the raven haired archeologist went to her desk and took a book bag off of her bed. Searching through her desk for anything and everything she would need, Robin ended up putting a half-empty notebook, some pens, enough Beli for a day, and the eternal pose from the previous island in the bag.

Slinging the bag around one of her shoulders, Robin exited the room and departed from the ship. Upon reaching the shore, the raven haired archeologist scanned her surroundings to familiarize herself with the ship's location, her back facing the ship and consequently the ocean.

Straight ahead of the archeologist after a length of beach was a steep incline of jagged rock which led to a landscape that would be extremely difficult, if not impossible to scale by foot alone. Looking to each side, it became apparent to the archeologist that the beach the strawhats had docked on was nearly completely surrounded by elevated land. The closer the landscape got to the coast, the less steep it became, so getting out of the cove wasn't entirely impossible. The cove was truly perfect spot to hide for a ship that didn't want to be discovered, a situation that worked for the Straw Hat pirates quite well.

Covering the ground unaffiliated with the beach was bountiful grass; however the color had a peculiarly faded and dull look. Instead of a vibrant green beautifully reflecting the light of the sun the grass was slightly pale and only seemed to blend in with the ground, making it appear as if the soil itself was green instead of the flora that covered it. It was hard to discern much else because the sun, though still high in the air, was starting to make its descent and the glaring light made it difficult to see much detail in the distance. Robin guessed to herself that it was somewhere around 2:00 pm from where the sun was in the sky.

On the beach itself were multitudes of various sizes of boulders, some jagged while others were worn from the abuses of time. Not too familiar with landscape, Robin could only assume that these boulders covering the sand were either a part of the rocky area around her before breaking apart or had been washed up by the ocean during a violent storm. It was most likely both, however, which would explain why some were more rough and ragged than others.

Sliding the bag on her shoulder around, Robin held a strap with one hand and reached inside with the other, reaching around for the eternal pose. Once she had the pose in her grasp, the archeologist withdrew it from the bag and looked to where it pointed. As she suspected, it pointed around to where the town was that she was looking for. If her guess was correct, whatever was the cause for their predicament was somewhere in or around that town.

Finished with looking at the pose and not wanting to accidentally break it by dropping the piece, Robin placed the pose back inside of her bag an swung it around onto her shoulder again. The archeologist followed the coastline, eventually reaching the inclined land that enshrouded the beach. Not sure on how to proceed, the raven haired archeologist scanned over the obstacle in front of her and spotted a staircase that was carved into the rock.

Thanking whoever was responsible for the passageway, Robin walked up the stone staircase with ease. The height between each step was similar to that of a house or an inn and Robin could see the end of the path shortly after she stepped foot on it. The path curved to the right and went up towards the center of the island for a short while before ending on another beach.

The fact that Robin walked up a path from a beach onto another beach confused the archeologist. Looking down to the coast, the raven haired female saw a fascinatingly long stretch of sand and shells that eventually gave way to the ocean. As unusual as the landscape had been thus far, Robin couldn't help but notice a unique and ubiquitous beauty that seemed to envelop the island.

Turning back to the center of the island, Robin reached a hand up to block the intense sunlight attacking her eyes. Regretting that she left her hat behind, the archeologist could at least be satisfied with the clothing she wisely chose. Her favorite purple tank top with a slight reddish hue and a pair of tan brown pants that cut off at the knees were perfect for the weather and comfortable as well.

Compelled by unknown reasons, Robin lifted up her left leg and took off the shoe she was wearing. Placing her foot back on the ground, the archeologist felt an extremely pleasant sensation of heated sand giving way to the pressure of her foot. Following with her right shoe immediately afterwards, Robin noticed that the sand was hotter than she had expected it to be since the moderately strong cool breeze that was coming up from the ocean led her to expect otherwise.

Putting aside the slightly discomforting feeling that the hot sand brought, Robin walked up the sandy beach inland towards the center of the island. The strawhat kept a fairly quick pace to avoid keeping her feet from staying on one spot for too long lest it be too hot.

Hair blowing forward in the wind, it wasn't before long that a genuine smile found its way onto the raven haired archeologist's face. She hadn't recalled ever being happy this often ever since the incident at Ohara and Robin had no doubt in her mind it was due to her being in the Straw Hat crew. The only way the moment could be any better is if she were spending it with her nakama and Robin silently regretted going off on her own, even more so not stopping Zoro from leaving the ship.

She wondered what kind of conversation would take place if just the two of them had been together on this beach. Most likely something along the lines of Zoro asking why Robin had taken off her shoes and what made her find the environment so fascinating. Robin imagined that the green haired swordsman would point out the inconsistency of leaving her shoes off if the sand was too hot and the resulting discussion of why she did so afterwards. It wouldn't appear like anything too interesting, but Robin knew that in one way or another she would have gotten the swordsman to get his shoes off to much hilarity.

In the midst of her thought, Robin saw that she was nearing the top of the slope of the beach and also saw the outlines of buildings coming into view. The sight surprised the archeologist considering she hadn't been following the coast and even if she had been she wouldn't have made it to the town yet.

When she made it to the top, the sand abruptly ended and instead was replaced with the same grass she had seen from before. Close to her was a stone path that led into the new town in front of her. After she walked over to the path, Robin sat on the grass and picked each foot up before wiping as much sand as she could off of it. After she was content with her work the archeologist put her shoes back on each foot before proceeding down the path.

-----------------------------

Garand reached up and wiped sweat that had begun forming on his forehead off. Although it didn't take much effort, keeping up the distortion for almost two weeks had taken its toll on his body. The only thing that made the man feel better was the knowledge that he would soon be able to stop with his assigned task and finally get some well needed rest.

Reaching inside of his pocket, Garand grabbed and pulled out his wristwatch and looked at the time, it read 3:30 pm. Feeling woozy and lightheaded, Garand replaced the watch inside of his left pocket and ran a hand through his mid-length dark brown hair. If he had let his hair run straight down the length would probably be to where it just barely covered his eyes. Disliking having his vision affected, Garand took a fondness to slicking his hair backwards to keep it out of the way. Due to the hair's thickness, it was easy to keep it that way and it only fell out of place on occasion.

Another sensation of vertigo overcame the brown haired man and before he could recover himself Garand had his knees on the ground, his right hand supporting his weight while the other was pressed against his face. His left palm was pressed firmly against his forehead in a vain attempt to make the sensation disappear and he had his fingers partially wrapped in his hair, preventing it from covering his face.

That was it; he couldn't, and wouldn't, make it another day. Recovering his composure, Garand stood back up with assistance from the wall of a building next to him. The brown haired individual was lucky to have been in an alleyway during the incident since it didn't bring him any unwanted attention. Walking through the rest of the alleyway and being greeted by head poundingly and intense sunlight, Garand almost lost his balance yet again before grabbing a hold of a barrel next to him for support.

After he had readjusted to the sun and the heat it brought with it, Garand walked through various passageways in the town, working his way to the de facto meeting area that his crew had set up. On occasion, the brown haired individual paused in his travel and scanned the area around him to make sure nobody was following him for any reason, even if it was one of his own crew. Events lately had made Garand wary of certain members of the Falken crew and he didn't feel like testing his luck with them.

Content with his search, Garand continued on for a while longer before finally reaching the base. It used to be a bar, but his captain had made quick work of everybody inside and they had the benefit of choosing a bar that was out of the way from the town. It was only a matter of time until they were discovered, but Garand knew their work would be done by then and they would finish the last of their business at the island before departing.

Once inside the bar, Garand noticed that his captain hadn't moved much since their last encounter. Though not too surprising to the Falken crewmember, it nonetheless disturbed him slightly and reminded him that his captain was one of the people he should be most wary of.

"What is it, Garand?" a deep and intimidating voice asked.

"I'm not going to be able to keep up the interference much longer; we need to make a move while we have the chance."

Looking up at the brown haired individual, the mysterious figure nodded as he saw the drained look on his crewmate's face.

"Fine, go to Callos and Andy. Tell them to follow the coast of this island towards the southernmost part. What we want is somewhere around there, make sure to let them know that they are _not_ to return without the item. Stress the point. After you do this, you can stop and get some rest."

Garand slicked his hair back before stretching both of his arms upwards in relief, his hands clasped together.

"Where are they?"

"Same as always, you shouldn't have a problem finding them."

Finishing his stretch, Garand turned to walk away and placed his hands in his pockets, his left hand toying with the wristwatch that was inside. Before he exited the bar, his captain spoke again.

"One more thing, if you ever tell me what to do again Garand, I'll kill you."

Having stopped to listen to what his captain was going to say, Garand started walking again and finally exited the bar. As he did so, he took his right hand out of his pocket and half-heartedly waved back to the man. Same as earlier, his captain called out to Garand, though this time he didn't stop.

"Good work so far, keep it up."

Finally out of earshot of the half-insane man in the bar, Garand sighed under his breath. It was getting worse, his captain's state of mind. He worried about what would happen when the man got what he desired. If nothing, Garand still worried about the day that his captain would eventually lose his last grips on sanity. Even still, the first mate of the Falken crew would follow his captain loyally until the time he was no longer given a choice. He only hoped that the situation would never present itself.

_Ending note: Holy hell is describing landscape difficult. It's so hard that I'm actually writing how hard it is before I'm even remotely finished. I kind of kept avoiding picturing how the island's landscape was because I was lazy and it's a pain to do, boy do I regret that. It's like if I decide on one thing, there's an inconsistency with another and I try really hard not to have any of those. That said (done now lol) this is probably my most detailed chapter yet. I really tried creating an image that was easy to picture and hopefully I was able to somewhat accomplish that. Because of that same detail, however, the length of the chapter unfortunately suffered. Still, I'm very satisfied with how this chapter turned out. Hope you enjoyed it and see you guys on Monday!_


	8. Chapter 7

A/N: Blech, just when I was about to get back to a regular schedule something happens that binds my hands. Things are back to normal now, though, so expect another update this Monday and we'll see what we can do about staying on schedule this time. In other news, I just powered through Fairy Tail (the manga) and boy is it an absolutely fantastic read. I highly suggest giving it a look for anyone who likes One Piece; it'll be right up your niche (plus I started a fic for it which involves my favored pairing, go check it out!). I know I shouldn't be starting any new stories until I start wrapping up a few of my others, but I just couldn't help it (besides it's only going to be a two-shot). Enjoy!

Creation time: 4 hours.

Written over: 1 session.

Suggested song: The Protomen, all of their work. Seriously, check these guys out, they are amazing. Do it now. I can't stress it enough. (Be sure to pay attention to the story aspect of their music)

* * *

"Adventure! Adventure! Adventure!" the energetic captain of the Straw Hat pirates excitedly yelled out.

"All right, all right, all right, we get it already. Give it a rest, would you?" responded one of his companions.

Luffy turned to the orange haired navigator before grinning widely.

"But there's adventure to be had! Come on, let's hurry! Besides, I'm hungry."

Nami slouched her shoulders forward and let her arms dangle limply in front of her.

"You're always hungry."

"Nami-swaaaaaaaan, you're even beautiful when you're disappointed!" a third voice happily called to the navigator.

The navigator cast an angry glance to the blonde haired cook, warning him that he was treading on thin ice.

"Ooooooooooooh, you're even **more** beautiful when you're scary!" the cook swooned.

Nami looked as though she was getting ready to violently retaliate against her companion, but instead slumped her posture again while sighing audibly.

"Oi, nee-chan, something up?" Franky asked the orange haired navigator.

"Not really, it's just…" Nami began.

"Just?" the shipwright continued.

"The cove we docked at. I didn't mention anything before, but something about it bothered me."

"Hm?" Sanji grunted, interested in the navigator's concern.

"You know those rocks we saw on the beach?" Nami asked the two strawhats.

Both pirates nodded their head.

"Well seeing rocks in and of itself on a beach is nothing too unusual, but the thing that bothers me about them was how different some of them were from the others. Some of the rocks were much rougher than the others, almost as if they had fallen down from the cliffs around the cove. However, there were also extremely smooth rocks. It looked like they'd been worn down over time by the ocean, but I don't know how they got so worn down compared to the others. It doesn't add up."

"Couldn't the worn down rocks just have been there longer and the rough ones recently fallen down? Or the worn ones could have been brought in during a big storm, I mean we saw how powerful Aqua Laguna was. It's not too far of a stretch to think something similar could happen here," the blonde haired cook pointed out.

Nami shook her head.

"That's what I thought at first. However, the positions of the rocks have no consistency. If what you said first was the case, then the jagged rocks would have been closer to the cliffs while the worn down rocks would have been towards the middle. Both kinds were scattered all over the place, it just doesn't add up."

Franky began rubbing his pointed chin in thought.

"Well, I don't know about the first part, but I can say definitely that a storm is out of the question. If a storm had brought in those rocks, then there would definitely have been some other stuff on the beach as well. From what I saw the beach was as clean as a whistle aside from the rocks, no debris or wreckage at all."

Nami planted the palm of her hand against her forehead, running her fingers through her hair and clutching it in her grasp.

"Ahhhhh, it doesn't make any sense, I tell you. Talk about frustrating."

Sanji reached into his pocket and retrieved a cigarette, bringing it up to his mouth before lighting it with one of his few remaining matches.

"That's the Grand Line for you," the blonde haired cook said as he took a drag from the narcotic, "not only do you have to throw common sense out the window while sailing on it, but also when you're on its islands."

"Even still," Nami returned, "something about it doesn't feel right. I'll have to take a closer look when we get back."

"Ooooooh, a forest! Let's go, guys! I'll bet we'll see some pretty interesting stuff in there," Luffy called back before quickening his pace.

Nami grabbed the back of the rubber captain's red shirt before he could get too far ahead.

"Hold it, Luffy! Don't get ahead of yourself, the last thing we need is for you to get lost too. There's no rush right now, we'll get there soon enough."

Luffy ignored his nakama while keeping up his attempt to proceed faster. He trudged forward hard enough to the point that the navigator was being pulled along, her feet dragging through the sand.

Nami continued to try to slow down her captain calmly as the rubber man continued to press onwards. It became apparent that nothing she said was going to have any impact on her captain, so the navigator was left with only one option. Raising her fist high into the air, Nami yelled at Luffy before smashing her fist into the back of his head.

Luffy yelped in pain as his head was thrown downwards, his neck even stretching from the force of the blow. The message finally making its way to the captain of the Straw Hat pirates, Luffy slumped his shoulders while maintaining a steady pace alongside his nakama.

-----------------------------

Something wasn't right, Nico Robin decided to herself. She had been walking through the village for almost 15 minutes and had yet to run into anybody. Certainly the village hadn't been abandoned, there were signs indicating that people were very recently living in the area.

Robin found the setup of the town to be extremely fascinating. It was unlike any other she had been to considering that everything was meticulously symmetrical. Every house was built the same down to the last piece of wood and there was nothing to indicate individuality aside from a labeled number on the door of each house. The actual build of each house was relatively simple, only one floor with what seemed to be enough size for a couple rooms, most likely a bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, and living area of sorts.

Even the land around the houses was the exact same, a single tree to the left side of the building and a couple of bushes to the right. Flowerbeds decorated the ground directly in front of the houses on dirt mounds, probably to prevent outsiders from peering inside the windows of a building. That hadn't stopped the archeologist, however, as her interest of the inside was enough for the strawhat to disregard the intentional obstacle.

Walking up to one of the houses, Robin leaned forward to avoid stepping on the flowerbed and peered inside. As she suspected, there was a main living area that connected to a couple of rooms. At the center of the room was a square table surrounded by what appeared to be high quality couches. In the corner of the room was a fireplace with two unused pieces of wood resting inside. Looking behind her to a house directly across from the one she was inspecting, the archeologist saw a chimney, something she hadn't seen nor looked for at first.

The raven haired archeologist had confirmed at least one thing to herself. The island they had landed on was a fall island, though what cycle it was on Robin couldn't decide, perhaps it was probably somewhere around late summer to early fall. It would certainly explain why there were chimneys and fireplaces; the weather was warm enough to have houses close to a beach for recreation but cold enough at times to warrant a fire inside said houses.

"Excuse me, miss. Can I help you?" a mature and slightly strained voice called out.

Robin turned to face who had spoken to her and was met with an elderly lady who held a small, circular handbag in her grasp. A giant grey ball of hair covered the head of the woman and her face was barely visible through the hair. The older woman was short in stature and her age did nothing to help it, the labors of time forcing her to hunch forward. The woman was rather squat in contrast to the shortness and one could say she resembled a ball, the style of her hair and handbag only adding to the image.

"Oh, my apologies, I didn't mean to intrude." Robin responded respectfully to the elderly woman.

The woman waved her hand forward to the archeologist, conveying that there was no harm done.

"Don't worry about it, hun, happens all the time. Sorry to tell you, but we're currently not renting out any of these houses for the moment. We're taking the next few days to clean everything out and make everything good as new."

Robin tilted her head slightly to the side and crossed her arms. Something about what the older woman had sad confused the raven haired archeologist.

"Renting? You mean this isn't a town?"

The older woman's eyes widened in surprise to the archeologist's question and, as with the rest of her body, were very rounded.

"Oh, you didn't know, hun? Are you new to this island?"

Robin nodded in confirmation to the grey haired woman's query.

"Yes, our crew just recently docked on the island. We've never been here before."

The older woman's expression returned to normal and she reached inside of her handbag, rummaging around for something. After a moment, the lady withdrew a tube and removed the top, turning the bottom portion to push up red colored lipstick. After applying an even coating, the elderly woman rubbed her lips together and smiled at the archeologist.

"I see, but certainly you've heard of the island itself? You could have found out much more information back in Old Town, or even New Town for that matter if you're coming from the Red Line."

If she hadn't looked it before, the raven archeologist certainly looked confused now. Tilting her head even more, Robin raised her right hand to rest the side of her head on, an expression of inquiry on her face.

"Sorry, but I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about. Would you mind?" Robin asked as she moved her arm out forward, her palm raised up.

The elderly woman's eyes shot open again in shock.

"You mean to tell me you've never hear about Handel Island?" the woman asked in bewilderment.

Robin again nodded in confirmation to the question.

"I'm afraid so, yes."

"Well then, why don't you take a seat over here?" the woman gestured to a bench near her, "It may take a little, but you seem like a very nice young woman, so I'll tell you everything you'd need or like to know."

Robin smiled, crossed her hands, and tipped her body forward to indicate her gratitude.

"Thank you very much, that would be a great help."

The grey haired woman continuously waved forward again to the raven haired archeologist.

"Nonsense, hun, it's nothing. My name is Circa, by the way."

Robin seated herself on the bench Circa had pointed to and patiently watched as the older woman took her own seat on the bench directly across from the archeologist. What a lucky turn of events, Robin decided to herself, gathering the information she needed looked like it was going to be much easier than she originally thought.

-----------------------------

Zoro furiously rubbed his eyes in utter disbelief. There was no way that what he was looking at was real, he must be seeing things from being too tired or something like that. Moving his hands from his vision so he could see again, the swordsman looked at the same exact sight as before. His eyes may have been heavy from sleepiness, but they were certainly not lying to him.

Before the green haired swordsman was the strangest looking town, no city, he'd ever seen. Buildings had no reason nor rhyme to them and some towered high into the air while others stretched out across the city. At the center of the city was a giant body of water that went inwards into the land in a perfect circle. Surrounding the body of water were multiple docks and hundreds of ships were either docked, entering the port, or exiting. The worst part about the dock was that at least half of the ships donned the Marine's emblem. The island that he and the rest of his nakama had docked on looked to be almost completely under marine control. This certainly didn't bode well for the Straw Hat pirates.

The green haired swordsman considered going back to the ship to warn his nakama before it was too late, however Zoro figured that they'd have already departed by now. He decided that his best chance was to look for them in the city and try to get them before things got out of hand. The swordsman hadn't been paying much attention back on the Thousand Sunny, but he remembered something about how they were supposed to be looking for someone to buy something that the crew had. All he had to do was find the market and soon enough his nakama would turn up like they always did.

Having decided on his plan of action, Zoro pushed through the last of the brush ahead of him and made his way down to the city on a path not too far from where he exited the forest. After some time, the swordsman finally found himself entering the confines of the bustling city. Everywhere he looked, people were frantically moving from place to place with a clear purpose on their mind. There were other people who were taking their time in their actions, but Zoro was simply amazed at how hectic everything was.

Zoro walked through the city for a while, occasionally asking around for the marketplace while keeping an eye out for his nakama and any marines that may notice him. Whenever he asked a person where the marketplace was, the person either laughed at him or simply said that everywhere was the marketplace. Getting frustrated at his lack of progress, the swordsman simply began wandering around aimlessly while looking at the various buildings and shops.

A lot of the shops carried items Zoro had never seen before and the swordsman could have sworn he saw a couple of people with conspicuous looking shells in their possession. The shells looked strikingly similar to the ones used in the sky islands, but aside from in Usopp's workshop Zoro had never seen the shells anywhere else. Speaking of, Zoro thought that Usopp would go head over heels for this city. Everything the craftsman could have ever dreamed of having was probably somewhere to be found in some shop.

Other shops, the weapon shops in particular, claimed to be selling devil fruit items. What a ludicrous notion, Zoro thought to himself, there was no way that a weapon or object could consume a devils fruit and gain its powers. They had to be scamming people. Scratch the previous thought, it was probably better that Usopp hadn't come with. Despite his experience with lying, the sniper was surprisingly gullible and he no doubt would buy some stupid and useless item with his money.

The green haired swordsman had been keeping his eye open for a bar and a clothes store, whichever came first. He figured that he'd be able to get a cheap shirt and spend the rest on some booze since it had been quite some time since his last drink. Not to mention that he'd be able to see if there were any wanted posters of him and his crew in a bar. With any luck the newest batch of posters wouldn't have made it to the island yet and the Straw Hats would at least be able to mingle with the people more easily.

Another large group of people madly made their way to their next destination and Zoro found himself becoming even more tired than before watching everyone around him acting so frenetically. Soon it became too much for the swordsman to bear and he looked around for a spot to take a quick nap in. Within minutes Zoro found a secluded spot by some empty crates and rested up against a building. His left leg was withdrawn to support his arm to better hold his katana against him and the strawhat quickly dozed off.

-----------------------------

"Come on Sally! We're going to be late if we don't hurry! The head nurses are going to have our heads if we're late for another class!"

A salmon haired female turned to her friend who was frantically trying to hurry her up. Sally's friend had dirty blonde, shoulder length hair and eyes of the same color. The two friends were wearing nurse clothing since they were on their way to their instructional courses. Ever since they were little, the two had wanted to go into medical practices and nursing stood out above the rest of the choices.

"What are you talking about, Lucy? We've never been late for a class before!"

Lucy continued to pull on her childhood friend in her attempt to speed Sally up.

"Ok, fine! We've never been late to a class, but we've missed a bunch which is way worse! If this keeps up, we could get in serious trouble…"

Sally tugged her shirt free from Lucy and began to laugh, swiping her hands across the sides of her outfit to brush off any dirt from it.

"Those were ok, though! We were helping people, after all. I think that should excuse our absences."

In response to her friend's carefree attitude, Lucy clenched a part of her shirt and put it in her mouth, chewing on it while pulling to stretch the shirt in frustration and impatience.

"Maybe if we were _actually_ helping people, they wouldn't mind. We keep picking up people that end up not needing help! Plus they tell us that if we actually went to class that we'd be able to tell that they didn't need help to begin with… C'mon, Sally! Let's just hurry, ok?"

Sally reached up and began scratching the back of her head, sticking her tongue out at Lucy and squinting her eyes.

"It couldn't be helped, what if we didn't help them and they actually _did_ need help? I'm not just going to idly stand by and—"

The salmon haired nurse noticed something alarming up ahead of the two. Running ahead of Lucy, Sally made her way to the disturbance and was shocked to see a man resting against a building. The man, who had three swords next to his side, looked like he was passed out and his white shirt was completely covered in deep red splotches. Sally could recognize those splotches anywhere, it was dried up blood! How long had the poor man been out here in the open with an untreated wound? Had it been hours? Days? More?

"LUCY, COME QUICK!!! SOMEONE NEEDS HELP!" the salmon haired apprentice yelled out to her companion.

Rushing over to where her friend was, Lucy yelped in horror as she came to the same conclusion as Sally had. Without hesitation, the dirty blonde haired student reached into her backpack and withdrew a thick white board. The nurse in training unfolded the object until it made a handheld stretcher.

"There's no time! We need to get him to a hospital, Sally!"

"Should we take him to our hospital?"

Lucy shook her head violently.

"There's no time, the closest hospital near here is in Central. We need to get him there as soon as we can!"

Sally looked over the injured man and took notice to the three katana he held close to him.

"What should we do about these, Lucy?" the salmon haired girl asked as she pointed to the swords.

"Leave them! They'll only get in the way," Lucy quickly responded.

Sally grabbed the katana in the clutches of the green haired man and began to pull at them, but they wouldn't budge. The man had an iron grip on the weapons and it didn't seem like he was going to let go of them without a fight.

"Ahhhhh forget it," the salmon haired nurse yelled, "He's not letting go."

The two students worked the green haired man onto the stretcher before each taking a side and lifting him up. Running as fast as they could manage, the two wended their way through the bustling city and crowds of people towards their destination. Within minutes the two had made it to a bridge connecting the city with Central and were quickly allowed to pass considering the emergency.

Sally and Lucy sprinted onwards to the hospital in Central with their unsuspecting passenger in tow.

_Ending note: Phew, lots going on here. The pacing is going a little differently than I originally intended (I wasn't planning on getting to Zoro until next chapter), however if I continued on with Robin like I intended it would have taken up way too much of the chapter. Like I said earlier, even though everything isn't happening at the __**exact**__ same time, I'm trying to keep it within reason. On a side note, I'm fairly certain that up to this point Zoro hasn't seen a devil fruit weapon (I don't think he saw Spandam's), so the concept is probably an impossibility to him right now, hence why I put it in there. If that's not the case, just let me know and I'll change it. Hope you all enjoyed the new chapter! See you guys Monday._


	9. Chapter 8

A/N: Derp, wanted to get this out yesterday but 4 ½ hours in at 9:00 pm, I just decided to finish it today. We're within a couple of chapters to our first serious fight, so look forward to it. During the time I worked on the story and the setting, I drew a rough map (poorly I might add) of how the island looked. The layout has slightly changed since then, but I'll be redoing it and will upload it onto photobucket or some similar image site for you to look at. There's a lot to the island, so much so that I probably won't get to all of it within the story, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem. I put it in my profile a little bit ago, but in case you're wondering GL High is on a temporary hiatus until this story gets finished. More details are in my profile if you want them. Anyways, enjoy.

**This is simultaneously my longest and most information filled chapter, please drop a review and let me know how it turned out and if there's anything that's unclear/needs work!**

Creation time: 6 hours

Written over: 2 days

Suggested song: 2 Rights Make 1 Wrong by Mogwai

* * *

Garand entered into the building where his captain suggested Callos and Andy would be. The two were often found hanging around here with the locals in their free time, so there was a good chance at least one was there.

Looking around the interior of the building, Garand quickly located the two crewmates and joined them at the table they were sitting at. Callos, who had known the lanky individual since they were kids, was easily Garand's best and closest friend on the Grand Line. The two had been through difficult and life-threatening challenges time and again, and it was suffice to say that either would die for the other. Sitting next to his childhood friend was Andy, a large and silent type. Garand couldn't recall a time he ever heard the man talk, let alone make any sort of noise outside of a grunt or murmur. His size truly belied his silent nature.

"Callos, Andy, the captain has a job for you," Garand started off, waiting for acknowledgement before continuing.

Callos took a sip from a drink in front of him then leaned back in his chair, reaching into his pocket and withdrawing a cigarette and his trusted lighter. Garand knew his friend well enough to know that he was listening. Andy, on the other hand, simply cast a glance in the first-mate's direction. Garand understood that was the large man's way of addressing somebody to let them know he was paying attention.

"All right, then. Captain says the ship we've been waiting for has docked somewhere along the southernmost coast of the island. He wants you two to find this ship and retrieve something," the brown haired man continued.

Andy glanced in Callos's direction and the Falken crewmember understood what his companion wanted. In fact, he and the large man wanted the same thing. Placing the cigarette in his mouth, Callos flipped open the polished silver lighter and swiped his palm against the ignition wheel before bringing the newly formed flame up to the narcotic in his mouth.

"Are you going to tell us what it is we're looking for?" Callos muffled with a hint of irritation in his voice, "We've been here for almost two weeks and nobody has told us anything."

Garand nodded and leaned towards his two nakama, signaling for them to do the same. What he went on to tell them could not afford to be overheard, lest some prospective individual take advantage over the information. A large grin found its way onto both Callos and Andy's faces upon hearing the item they were to obtain.

"So _that's_ what's gotten the captain all up in arms lately? Can't say I blame him, I would be too if I knew something like that was coming to the island," Callos chimed as he took a drag of his cigarette.

Garand returned the grin both of his comrades wore.

"You didn't think I'd keep this bullshit up for nearly two weeks if it wasn't worth it, did you?" the black haired man contentedly asked.

A small chuckle could be heard from Andy. Callos leaned forward and finished the rest of his drink, gently placing it back on the table the group sat at afterwards.

"No, can't say the thought crossed my mind, pal."

As the two crewmates sitting in front of him began to get up and leave, Garand added something with a serious look and tone.

"The captain said not to come back if you don't succeed. It'd do you well to keep that in mind, you two. Be careful," the Falken crew's first mate cautioned his nakama.

Andy's countenance remained mostly unchanged, but Garand could tell that his comrade had taken the words to heart. Callos, on the other hand, looked as if the message went in one ear and out the other. Smiling just as broadly as before, if not wider, Garand's childhood friend jumped out of his chair before walking towards the exit, gesturing for Andy to follow him. Before his best friend could get out of reach, Garand grabbed the man by the arm and stopped him. Andy continued on to the exit, allowing the brown haired individual to have a word with the one he stopped.

"I'm serious, Callos. I'm not saying don't come back if you fail, just don't go back to the captain right away. He's not right in the head, you know that, and it's only been getting worse. If things turn for the worse, find me first."

Callos removed his arm from Garand's grasp before smiling at the brown haired man and patting him on the back.

"Come on, pal. You worry too much! It's me and Andy going, you know us. There's no way we're going to be coming back empty handed. Besides, even if we did, it's not like it's the last chance we'll have. The captain might have a few screws loose right now, but I doubt he'd do anything crazy."

Garand didn't budge an inch for his childhood friend. Under normal circumstances he would back off and allow the man to be his usual care-free self, however now was not a time for such things to slide by.

"Promise me," the brown haired first-mate started as his friend's composure became more attentive, "promise me that if anything goes wrong and you don't succeed, you'll come to me first."

Callos shuffled his weight and crossed his arms, giving the brown haired man a puzzled and worried look.

"A promise, huh? You hardly ever ask for one of those, Garand. All right then, if anything happens I'll come to you first."

Garand exhaled in relief at the news. He trusted in his nakama, but it didn't hurt to plan for the worst. If you didn't plan and it happened, who knows what the consequences could be? Callos nodded at his best friend before walking to the exit of the building.

"I'll be heading out now, see you when I get back."

"Take care, and stop smoking for christ's sake. How many times am I going to have to warn you?"

After his friend had exited, Garand felt a streak of sweat drip down his face and the brown haired individual sprawled himself over the table he'd been sitting at with the others. The first-mate had done his best to hide his weariness from the others, and even though they noticed it he must have hidden it well enough for them not to comment on it.

"That's enough," the Falken crewmember said to himself, "I've held up this interference more than long enough now."

Garand released the powers he had been using incessantly for nearly the past two weeks. A wave of relief fell over Garand followed by a wave of exhaustion that almost caused the brown haired man to pass out instantly on the table. After a few moments Garand felt his strength returning and soon he had himself seated normally, more than ready for a well deserved drink.

* * *

Robin sat listening attentively to the ball-shaped woman sitting across from her. The two had been talking for a quite a while and it didn't seem like the older lady was going to run out of information to relate to the archeologist any time soon.

"Any other questions, hun?" Circa asked Robin.

Robin crossed her hands and looked down at her slowly twiddling thumbs. Thinking of another question to ask, the raven haired archeologist began to review the information that she had been given up until then.

Apparently Robin and the rest of the strawhats had landed on Handel Island. It was renowned throughout the world as the biggest market for legitimate trading between the first and second half of the Grand Line. One of the last few islands before the Red Line, Handel Island found itself trafficked by much more ships than others since the amount of islands a ship could travel to based off a regular log pose dwindled as it reached either side of the Red Line.

Handel Island quickly gained a reputation as the last island in a specific route that constituted the safest course possible through the first half of the Grand Line. Those who didn't have the strength to face harsh waters or wanted to avoid danger often found themselves on the shores of the aptly titled 'Island of Trades'. Many people who desired safe passage made it to Handel Island, but most notable of these were merchant ships seeking business. In fact, it was these merchant ships that made Handel Island such a booming success to begin with.

Because of the reputation of safety and the high amount of traffic it received, Handel Island became sought as either a place to live or do business. In the early stages of the Island's life, a prospective individual saw potential in the beaches on the southern end of the island and quickly worked on building a resort for them. Within time, Handel Island became known not only for its trading, but for recreation and relaxation as well. The originally small resort exploded in size and fame as people came in droves to stay there.

In order to accommodate the vastly increasing amount of people wanting to live on the island, contractors purchased the rights for chunks of land on the northern end of the island from the mayor. A residential area was built from the ground up on the northern section of Handel Island and is still being expanded on even to today. Masons and other laborers work ceaselessly, and bountifully, to satisfy the never ending requirements of those who resided on or wished to live on the island.

Leadership of the island and, conversely, ownership of the island was kept within a family line. Only those born under the name "Handel" were allowed to take over the island when control was passed down, a tradition that has continued to this day. Though resemblant of a monarchy, the style of leadership used by the Handel family was that of mutual respect and gain. It was in the interest of all for leadership to be established and with a set of rules and laws to follow, just as it was in the interest for those in power give unabashed freedom to those on the island. Included in the freedoms given was the indiscrimination of a person's background. It didn't matter if the person was a pirate, a marine, a civilian, or anything else as long as they didn't start trouble.

Through acts and reasons unknown to the general public, the Handel family was able to keep the island without swearing allegiance to the World Government. Because of this, the World Government has no jurisdiction in how Handel Island is run or how it carries out its business. Many claim that, as is consistent with the adage of mutual gain, it was in the World Government's best interest to leave Handel Island as it was and allow it to be an unaffiliated, neutral entity. Many of the regulations established by the World Government would conflict with the practices of those on the island, likely violently, and the very foundation of Handel Island would be threatened.

Since the marines had no inherent authority in the island, an independent enforcement faction was founded by close family friends of the Handel family. It is run in a similar manner to the island as it was an ancestor of the current family line controlling the law and regulation enforcement that designed and established it. The two families have always been on good terms and occasionally are the best of friends.

As word spread of the goldmine that was Handel Island, merchants hailing from the second half of the Grand Line wanted a slice of the action. Coming from the other side of the Red Line, these tradesmen landed on the eastern side of the island that had up until that point been a small town. With new goods unique to the New World, these businessmen and women quickly found a high demand for their products and skills. The small town boomed and grew into its own market, opposite of the western side, dealing with the items from the New World.

It became apparent to the Handel family that they would not be able to control the island in its entirety at this point and created a four-person council designated to oversee affairs on each part of the island. Each council member was given a side to overlook and all reported to the Handel family who had the final say in all matters.

In an attempt to keep matters of the island organized and under control, the leaders created a man-made encirclement of water that surrounded the central area of the island where everything was run. The encirclement was dug deep enough and wide enough that the only way to make it to the center section was to cross a bridge. It was discovered upon digging that a series of small tunnels ran through the island which ended up filling the moat and circulating sea-water through the island. Four bridges connecting the four sections of the island were built, and residents of the island were required to purchase a pass in order to cross the bridges.

The bridge passes could be purchased for sets of time ranging from a week to a year, costing progressively less the longer the duration. Though it is not required for a person to have a pass or for them to travel through the central district to separate parts of the island, it is in their best interest to do so. Up to that point, a large problem with security that the island was having were thieves and bandits that would ambush unsuspecting people in the woods that covered the island between towns, stealing or otherwise destroying their belongings. The bridge system provided a safe means of transportation and became the island's largest form of income, used to pay those in the service of the island's leaders and to keep the island maintained. It was also beneficial to purchase a bridge pass because the highest quality goods and trade practices became located at the center of the island.

The Handel family were originally merchants of the Grand Line themselves, however they had no experience with the New World and everything involved with it. Unable to understand many of the various products brought into the eastern side and the legitimacy of said products, a black market began to form. Afraid that the World Government would revoke their agreement to keep away from Handel Island if the black market got out of control, the Handel family turned to the government and asked for their assistance.

The World Government responded swiftly and established a marine outpost on the eastern side of the island, working to eliminate the black market while keeping a distance from the rest of the affairs. Since the Handel family asked for the World Government's help and allowed them to send in Marines, full jurisdiction still remained within the island. To compensate for the efforts the World Government was giving, the Handel family decided to allow the Marines to apprehend any pirate with a bounty over 75 million Beli in the eastern district. Since the Marines were not allowed outside of the eastern district while on duty, bounty hunters from all over came to Handel Island to chase after high bounties with the convenience of a marine outpost nearby to turn in their catch.

It had certainly been a considerable amount of information to swallow and Robin suspected that there was even more to the island than what Circa had related to her. The strawhat clasped her hands together in a ball and raised her knuckles to her face, resting her chin on the balled hands with her elbows supporting the weight on her legs. The raven haired archeologist looked back up at the elderly lady in front of her.

"About the bridge passes, where can I get one?"

Circa rubbed her chin in contemplation before smiling and reaching into her circular handbag, reaching around inside before pulling out a laminated card.

"Here you go, hun. You seem like a nice young lady, so I'll let you have this. I bought my yearly pass earlier today while I was out on some errands, this one should have a week or so left on it."

Robin was apprehensive about accepting the kind gesture.

"Are you sure? Is there anything you want in return?" the archeologist asked.

The grey haired lady balled up her hands and placed them against her hips, looking irritated with the strawhat.

"What kind of question is that? I'm almost insulted that you'd think I wanted anything in return! I can tell you're a beautiful, kind woman, Robin, and that you're going to make some man extremely lucky. You've sat here and entertained this old hag with discussion, it's the least I can do to repay you, hun," Circa said pleasantly to the raven haired archeologist.

Although still with a little hesitation, Robin graciously took the card from Circa with a word of thanks, inspecting the laminated card in her hand. It wasn't anything special looking, just the words 'bridge pass' with a stamped seal of authenticity and a date of expiration. The elder woman had been right, there was exactly one week left on the card.

Preparing for her next and final question, Robin picked up her book bag and reached inside, grabbing and pulling out the eternal pose.

"Look, hun, if you still feel you need to do something for me in return for the card, then stop by my house sometime during your stay here. We'll have a bite to eat and I'll introduce you to another young girl like yourself that's staying with me for the moment. I'm sure the two of you will get along great!"

Looking back up to the kind old lady, Robin smiled and waited for her to finish. Circa raised an arm and pointed to Robin's left at the forest.

"If you head directly straight that way, hun, you'll come across my house. I don't think anyone will be there right now, but if there is just say Circa sent ya and I'm sure they can help you out more than I can."

Robin looked to the direction Circa pointed at and then back to the eternal pose. Convenient for the archeologist, the direction she pointed in was in fact the direction the raven haired woman needed to go.

"I doubt that, you've been a great help, Circa. Thank you very much," Robin said as she gave the older woman another smile before getting up to leave.

"Oh, come on now. You're making me blush here," Circa said in farewell as she waved goodbye to the strawhat.

Before heading in the direction Circa had given the archeologist, Robin turned to the circular lady and presented her the eternal pose in her possession.

"One last thing, have you heard anything about peoples' log poses being changed lately?"

Circa's face darkened and she looked worriedly to the raven haired archeologist.

"I have, briefly, but between you and me, don't go around asking that. There have been rumors that newcomers asking about their poses have been disappearing without a trace. Whatever is causing it, I'm sure it will pass eventually, just be patient, hun."

Robin nodded before taking her leave, waving a final farewell as she left the resort towards the forest.

After entering the forest in the direction Circa had pointed to, Robin continued on following the eternal pose's bearing until she came across a magnificent house. The archeologist was immediately able to tell that the house had been build from the ground up by extremely skilled hands. Every set stone in the structure was meticulously placed for maximum strength and durability and there was no wasted effort. The house was likely more than a hundred years old and looked no worse for the wear.

Various colors and sizes of limestone constituted the main structure of the house, however nothing seemed out of place and everything meshed together to form one of the most interesting architectures that Robin had ever seen. The archeologist could tell the limestone had been set on a wooden frame since the windows decorating the house were lined with madrone wood, adding a reddish hue to the area surrounding it. The raven haired archeologist could only imagine how the sunset would look through the glass windows with the reddish pink tint of the wood complimenting the view.

Robin considered walking up to a window and inspecting the interior, but decided against it since someone could be inside and she didn't want to take advantage of Circa's kindness. The archeologist walked up to the front door, laden with intricate woodwork and care, and used the metal knocker attached to it after placing her bag on the ground.

There was no response and Robin waited for a few moments before lightly rapping the knocker against the door for a second time. Like the last, no noise could be heard from inside the house and Robin remembered that Circa had said there wasn't anyone likely to be back.

Shrugging to herself and deciding to come back later, Robin slung her book bag back over her shoulders and proceeded on to the town that her eternal pose was pointing at and she soon found herself in the middle of a bustling marketplace. People were deftly and efficiently moving through the crowds for whatever purpose and it was easy to see most were used to the chaos. Robin could see an occasional man or woman stumbling around with a heavy look on their face and delayed responses to the clutter around them, clear signs of heavy alcohol consumption.

The archeologist closely inspected the eternal pose in her hand, determined to find the source of whatever brought her and her nakama here. It had begun to turn since she had last inspected it and suddenly it pointed back from the direction she was heading.

Robin immediately stopped and looked to where the pose now pointed. In front of her was what looked to be a bar of sorts. Looking up the strawhat saw that the name of the establishment was 'Journey's End'. Definitely a bar, Robin decided to herself, and she couldn't help but find the coincidence of the name and her current task humorous.

Robin looked down at the pose and began to walk towards the bar to make sure that it was the right building and was forcibly bumped into by a passerby who had just left the bar. The raven haired archeologist would have been knocked to the ground had a strong hand not grabbed her arm and stayed her fall.

A well build man with short, bronze hair held the archeologist in his grasp. His tan eyes showed concerned for the woman and he seemed embarrassed for the unexpected collision. Gently pulling the woman back up to her feet, the individual in front of her rubbed the back of his head.

"Sorry about that! Didn't see you walking there, heh. I didn't hurt you or anything, did I?" the man asked.

Robin shook her head in response before smiling at the young man in front of her.

"No, I'm fine."

The bronze haired individual in front of her brightened at the news and the smile she gave him. He beamed at the archeologist and eagerly waited for her to continue on in hopes of sparking a conversation. The man continued to wait until he noticed the bemused expression on Robin's face, realizing that she wasn't going to continue and was just waiting for him out of politeness.

"Oh! Right, right. You're probably busy with something…" the bronze haired man stretched the last word with a rising tone, waiting for the woman in front of him to finish his statement.

"Robin," the archeologist stated.

"Robin! Wow, that's a beautiful name, it fits you. Hey, sorry again about earlier, but how about I buy you a drink to make up for it?"

Robin looked at the individual with a sly and teasing expression on her face.

"Oh? You've got quite the way with words there…"

"Callos! The name's Callos, nice to meet you, Robin," Callos said with a giant grin on his face.

Callos brought up his other arm and placed it on the back of his head along with the first, leaning back and relaxing his posture.

"So, what do you say? Up for that drink?"

Robin tilted her head and placed her right palm against the side of her face, smiling playfully at the younger man in front of her. The archeologist opened her mouth to talk before being interrupted by a second individual, most likely Callos's companion, clearing his throat loudly. Callos looked back at his companion then sheepishly at Robin afterwards.

"Hold that thought. Sorry to do this, but I have something I have to take care of first. If you're staying here for a little, drop by here sometime. I owe you a drink or two, how does that sound?"

The bronze haired individual enthusiastically waited for the archeologist's response, motioning for his increasingly impatient friend to wait. Robin took her right hand off of her cheek and lightly waved it, waggling her fingers at the young man.

"Goodbye."

The response left Callos dumbfounded for a moment before he bent forward and erupted into well-mannered laughter. He turned back to his companion and began walking alongside him, waving his hand back at Robin in goodbye without looking.

"It's not a no, that's enough to make me happy," he called back before disappearing into the crowd.

Robin smiled to herself after Callos had disappeared and looked back to the pose. Her smile disappeared entirely when she watched the pointer on the pose go from pointing directly in front of her to spinning around and finally to pointing directly behind her. Robin looked around frantically to see if she could see what caused the pose to move so suddenly, but nothing stuck out to her in particular.

It didn't make any sense. Ever since the pose had originally changed its bearing, it had barely deviated from the direction it gave. It was almost as if it was pointing to something, or someone, on the island. Robin decided to herself that whatever was causing the disturbance must have stopped doing so, it was the only explanation. Turning her attention back to the 'Journey's End', Robin walked inside the establishment, ready to look for the cause of everything.

_Ending note: Holy shit, and I thought designing the island was difficult. I completely overlooked the aspect of leadership for the island and it wasn't until this chapter that I realized I needed to establish it for the events to run their course. Those familiar with Laissez-faire, take that and apply it to how the island is governed. The idea I'm going for is that even though there are some bad apples here and there, everybody generally stays in line because it's in the best interest for all that things don't get out of hand. I tried to avoid using the word 'government' because, to me, the leadership of Handel Island simply doesn't feel like that. It's run by merchants, for merchants. Everything is sorta self-sustained and there's no real benefit to trying to take over the island since the leaders don't make a ridiculous amount of money and most of what they make goes towards the island itself. Crime is there, sure, but they've found a system that works (don't know what it is, let's just say it's really good heh). I'm not very knowledgeable on governments and such, and it probably shows, but just pretend that this works._


	10. Chapter 9

A/N: Hey guys, been a bit since this story's last update, I know. Don't mean to be so inconsistent with the updates, guess I just work on too many things at once, well that and finals have been going on. In any case, since I clearly am not keeping to a M/F schedule with this, I think I'm going to change it to weekly updates. I'll still try to get two updates each week; I just want to be able to follow through with what I set as a schedule. However, as a personal redemption for all of the missed updates and whatnot, next week I'll release one solid update to a story of mine per day for 5 days (mon-fri). It'll be tough, but I plan on sticking to my guns on this one, so expect not one, not two, but _five_ updates next week!! I've also taken a little time to touch up the summary page since I think there were some errors on it before. Making a summary page was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be, but hopefully it does enough to serve its purpose.

** I finished the badly drawn outline/map of the island. Go to http: ://i272. .photobucket. .com/albums/jj172/xKaodenx/Handel%20Island/map_final. .jpg (remove spaces and extra .'s and :'s) if you'd like to see (was supposed to be residential district but I didn't have space lol).

Creation time: wayyyyy too long

Written over: 5-6 sessions

Suggested song: Moar Ghosts 'n' Stuff by Deadmau 5

* * *

Zoro had no idea where he was.

All the swordsman could remember was finding a comfortable spot by some crates and barrels before dozing off and the next thing he knew he'd woken up in some hospital bed. Two younger and extremely exasperated nurses were trying to restrain him and take off his clothes, much to the swordsman's horror, and he'd barely managed to get away from them and the needles they were trying to stick into him.

The swordsman shuddered. He hated needles. Everyone gave him such a hard time about it too, like they weren't bothered by little sharp tubes digging into their skin.

In any case, the swordsman was lost, no doubt about it. The bustling town he was at now was nothing like the one he was in before, most notably that there were seemingly no marines or marine buildings anywhere in sight. It didn't really make any sense.

Scratching the back of his head, Zoro weighed his options. He could either try to get back to where he was to see if he could meet up with the rest of his crew or he could just simply head straight back to the Thousand Sunny and wait for them there. Whatever he decided, the swordsman was going to have to get his bearings first and find out where he was.

A mischievous grin crept onto Zoro's features. The best way to find out where he was at was to ask somebody who was familiar with the island. Not every person was going to know what he needed to learn so the swordsman was going to have to go to a place where a lot of people gathered. Nodding to himself, Zoro decided that there were hardly any better places to find large groups of people than at a tavern. Speaking of, he may as well grab a drink or two while he was inside, couldn't hurt after all.

* * *

Zoro walked around for at least 15 minutes before finally finding a bar. The sign read "Clock's Hand" and Zoro noted the peculiarity of the name before entering the establishment.

Much to the swordsman's surprise, instead of finding the usual gruff and forcible people swarming inside the tavern, Zoro saw just about any person you could think of. Granted, there were plenty of ruffians that looked like they called this place home over all others, but there were also average looking men and women heartily laughing for whatever reason while heaving a genuinely good time.

Taking a glance around the Clock's Hand, Zoro saw, similar to the rest of the town, that there were no marines anywhere in sight. The green haired swordsman felt a small wave of relief on the knowledge that for now he wasn't going to be bothered by anyone. There was still a chance the newest wanted posters hadn't made it to the island and for that matter nobody inside here, save a few faces, look like they'd want to have anything to do with the pirate.

Since all of the tables were occupied by either groups of customers or employees taking their break, Zoro waded his way through the locals inside up to the bar, taking an isolated seat to the side.

"What would ya like, son?" an experienced voice gently asked.

Zoro looked up and saw what he assumed to be the owner of the Clock's Hand and suddenly the name made more sense. A scrawny figure looked back at him through glasses so thick the swordsman thought that they could have doubled as magnifying lenses. Tufts of grayed hair jutted out of random spots on the man's head and everything about his face looked unkempt. Hints of acne long since passed permeated the features on the older man's face since smaller, uncolored bumps spotted his face. He appeared as if he was trying to clean something from his teeth with his mouth closed, a bulge in his lips moving as his tongue rubbed back and forth.

"You look like you'd have some interesting stories, kid." The man gestured at the cup he was busily cleaning with a white rag. "Here, I got this mug all prepared for ya, ready to be filled with whatever'd ya like, on me."

Zoro looked to the mug the barkeep gestured at. Despite how unkempt the rest of him might have looked, if it was one thing the old man kept care of it was his hands. Looking 20 years younger than the barkeeper was likely to be, the hands expertly worked their magic on the mug without a single wasted movement; it was very likely the man could have actually been a clockmaker before working here at the tavern.

"Uh, thanks," Zoro looked back to the barkeeper, confused, "but I have money on me. Why the free drink?"

The spotted haired man placed the mug he'd been meticulously cleaning onto a coaster and pushed it in front of the swordsman.

"It's written all over your face, son, you ain't had a drink for a while now, huh? I can sympathize." The man beamed down at the strawhat, giving him a confident look while patiently waiting for his customer's request.

"Oh, that easy to see, hn?" Zoro responded lightly. He wasn't sure what that said about him.

"Oh! I don' mean it like that, kid. Not insinuatin' that you're a drunk or nothin', just that I can see you're the kind that appreciates a cold, hard drink every now and then." The man patted Zoro on the shoulder assuredly. "'Sides, it's only the first that'll be free. This ain't no charity, your conscience will be clear."

Zoro smiled before reaching into his pocket to withdraw the meager amount of money he'd been allotted by Nami. He presented it to the spotted haired man standing in front of him, flipping through the bills to give the barkeeper an idea of how much the swordsman had on him.

"I'll take whatever gets me a couple with this," Zoro indicated at the money, "never really liked switching up drinks in the middle."

The barkeeper leaned to get a better look at the wad of money through his telescopic eyeglasses, frowning noticeably as he guessed the amount the swordsman had.

"That all ya got, son? Why, that's hardly enough to get ya any more than a few of our cheapest. Big, strong guy like you looks like he'd be able to make twice that in less than an hour, what gives?"

Zoro shrugged his shoulders. "It's all I've been given to spend from my crew," he simply stated.

The older man rubbed his chin. "From your crew, eh? She must be a tough one to make ya accept such a small amount a' cash."

"Her?" Zoro asked as he raised an eyebrow to the bartender's observation. Though not off the mark, it certainly was an odd conclusion to jump to.

"Well look at ya, I've yet to meet a crew crazy enough to make a guy like you only spend so much money." The bartender sized up Zoro again, looking over the green haired swordsman while having a lingering eye on the katana he carried. "'Sides, putting aside there's no crew that'd ration you money, I don't see you being the kind of guy to let another guy tell ya what you can an' can't do."

"Heh, maybe you're right," Zoro chuckled in response to the last sentence.

"Course I am!" The bartender looked triumphantly at his customer before leaning in closer. "So… ya like her?"

Startled by the intrusive question, Zoro quickly denied the accusation with a wave of his hand and a shake of his head. The bartender leaned back with an objective look on his face, rubbing his chin in thought.

"So there's another, huh?"

As before Zoro denied the accusation made by the man in front of him, however he was much more fervent in his actions compared to the previous time.

Bemused by the swordsman's ardent response, the bartender started to laugh.

"Boy, you're easier to read than a two page book. I believe ya when you say that money-grabbin' girl ain't your cup a' tea, but ya have your sights set on someone, that much I can see."

Scratching the back of his head to hide the small blush beginning to permeate his features, Zoro distracted the barkeeper by slamming the money in his hands onto the table.

"I'll take whatever you give me, as long as I can have a couple," the green haired swordsman stated promptly.

"All right." Chuckling to himself, the older bartender took the mug and went off to fulfill his customer's request.

Zoro exhaled, relieving a tension he hadn't noticed building up. Happy to have his moment of reprieve, the green haired swordsman sat eagerly awaiting his drink when someone took the seat directly next to him.

Frustrated that his moment alone was being intruded on, Zoro looked to the person who found it necessary to take the spot next to the swordsman despite the multitude of empty seats all over the place. It wasn't quite a glare, but the look Zoro gave certainly wasn't welcoming and it showed.

A man of roughly the same build, size, and even age as the swordsman returned the expression Zoro had for a moment before his twitching face could no longer keep its composure. Happily laughing, the man caught the bartender's attention with a raise of his hand before pointing to himself and the swordsman. Without a word the bartender filled up two mugs and brought the beverages to the new drinking companions.

Zoro accepted the drink with a nod of thanks before returning his attention to the person next to him. The first thing that stuck out to the swordsman was the mid-length deep red hair that topped the man's head. If it were to hang down the furthest it would make it would be to the man's eyebrows, however it jutted out forwards and slightly into the air, keeping the man's vision clear. He wore a skintight, dark blue shirt whose sleeves ended just past his elbows and looser, black plants along with them. At his hip was a long handle to something slung in a noose and if nothing else Zoro would have described it as the hilt of a sword. There was nothing discernable about it, however, and Zoro decided to ignore the item as trivial and unimportant.

The red haired man's attention was held by the bartender and after a few lines of friendly dialogue the man handed a generous amount of money to the barkeeper. Whatever amount it was, Zoro figured that it was probably enough to cover whatever the red haired individual was going to drink as well as cover a tip.

"Thanks, Red." The bartender stuffed the money into his pocket without even bothering to count any of it, a sign that the older man at the very least trusted Zoro's new acquaintance.

"Don't mention it, Al."

Suddenly, the red haired man turned and faced Zoro again, drink in hand. After taking a swig, the individual extended an arm to the swordsman.

"Hey there, name's Rederick. Hope you don't mind me barging in like this, it's just that I had to meet the legendary Pirate Hunter once I saw him." Rederick smiled before cheerfully laughing again.

Uninterested in the person trying to start a conversation, Zoro turned himself to face the wall behind the bar and halfheartedly took a sip from the mug he'd been given. The liquor was surprisingly delicious, too much so in fact. It had to be much more expensive than what he could have afforded and the green haired swordsman suspected that the bartender's good nature would only extend itself so far.

Having noticed the startled demeanor after taking a sip of his drink, Rederick lightly hit the back of his hand against the swordsman's arm to get his attention, his other arm still extended.

"I heard about your money troubles from Al, so I gave him a few extra bucks and told him to up the quality on your drink a little bit."

Zoro's gaze never left the drink he was staring into dispassionately. "Is that so?"

Another few moments passed as Zoro continued to ignore the hand awaiting reciprocation while happily imbibing his drink. Accepting that Rederick wasn't going to leave him alone until he at least addressed the red haired individual, Zoro turned on his stool so that he was facing his new companion. The swordsman took the mug of liquor in his right hand while resting his weight on his left elbow that was planted on the edge of the bar, his hand holding up his head while rubbing his hair on the back of his head.

"Is you spontaneously buying me a drink supposed to make us friends?" Zoro stiffly asked.

Already aware that his presence was unwelcomed at best and that the cold question was the closest thing he was going to get to a formal greeting, Rederick withdrew his hand, though not disdainfully.

"I suppose not. It _does_, however, give me room to hold a conversation." Finishing his sentence, Rederick slammed back the rest of his drink and raised his hand again to catch Al's attention, a refill soon placed before the red haired individual.

Zoro sat enjoying his drink for a minute or so before the silence began to bother the green haired swordsman. Closing his eyes in irritation and lifting his head up, Zoro used his newly freed hand to impatiently begin tapping the side of the bar. Rederick had turned himself back to face the wall ahead of him and was calmly drinking his beverage. So much for discussion, Zoro thought.

"For wanting to have a conversation, you certainly don't say much," Zoro shot out in annoyance.

Rederick turned back to the green haired swordsman with a nervous laugh. "Heh, sorry. It figures that when I finally get a chance to talk to someone like you that I can't think of anything to say. Though…" Rederick looked shrewdly at his companion, his appearance completely changing, "I wonder what I'd be able to buy with that bounty of yours."

Noticing the change in presence and hearing the musing from his companion, Zoro's eyes shot open with a wild look as his right hand instinctively found its way to one of his katana. Within moments of the green haired swordsman's reaction Rederick had returned his to his previous manner with his arms outstretched and palms outwards, trying to plead with the man giving him a murderous look.

"Whoa, whoa, slow down, haha. It was a joke, simply a joke. I don't want to collect your bounty, just wanted to see if you were the real Roronoa Zoro," Rederick said and both men began to relax.

"I'm a bounty hunter, same as you were…" Zoro was about to ready his swords when Rederick managed to wave him off. "What I'm getting at is that you'd be surprised how many times we think we have the right guy and when we bring him in it turns out to be someone else that looked the same as the bounty."

One word in particular stuck out to the green haired swordsman.

"We?"

Giving Zoro a thumbs up, Rederick continued, "Yeah, me and my crew, the Falkens. You probably haven't heard of us, but we've been around for a while, picking up bounties as we make our way through the Grand Line."

Zoro raised an eyebrow. "Falken, huh? I've heard of you guys before, supposed to be pretty strong. If I recall, you guys focused mostly in South and West Blue, what brings you to the Grand Line?"

Rederick's features hardened, the cheerful look on his face instead replaced by a wistful and penitent one and he scratched his cheekbone with a single finger, almost nervously.

"Captain's orders, really. We were following another person, sorta, among other things and our path has led us here." Rederick looked down and do the side, avoiding any possibility of eye contact. Whatever was on his mind bore heavily on the red haired bounty hunter and Zoro didn't push the matter. It was an idle question on a topic Zoro found of particular interest, but nothing enough that he would press on.

"In any case," Rederick continued, eager to change the topic, "I've always wanted to meet the famed pirate hunter. We heard about you a lot and considered trying to get you to join our crew, but East Blue was always such a pain in the ass to travel through so we didn't bother. Besides," the bounty hunter beamed at Zoro, "by the time we committed to setting out to find you, we heard you'd joined a pirate crew. What gives?"

Zoro smirked in response to his clearly disappointed drinking companion. "Why, got a problem with it?"

"Hardly," Rederick retorted, his smile deepening, "if anything I think it's more awesome. I mean, who wouldn't want to have the title 'Pirate Hunter' when they're a pirate themselves? The irony has a pretty nice ring to it if you ask me. Besides—"

Something caught the red haired bounty hunter's interest and he leaned to the side to get a better look to confirm his suspicion. He hadn't noticed it before, but the green haired swordsman he was talking to had stains all over his shirt. Rederick scolded himself, he let the excitement over meeting Roronoa Zoro distract his observations. How could he not have noticed the wine stains all over the Pirate Hunter's shirt? Situational awareness at its finest, the bounty hunter decided.

"So…" Rederick pointed at Zoro's shirt, "what's with the wine stains? You don't seem the type to drink that kind of stuff, I sure as hell don't."

Zoro looked confusedly at the red haired bounty hunter, having completely forgotten about the stains Nami had made on his shirt and the reminder of the stain soon brought to light the reason behind the stain. A grimace slowly turned into a horrified and anxious expression as Zoro realized that the meager amount of money he'd been given to replace the wine-stained shirt he wore was just spent on the alcohol he was currently swishing around in his mouth. It was far too late to ask for what little amount he could get back since Rederick had put down money of his own to upgrade the swordsman's brew.

The bounty hunter looked sympathetically to the green haired swordsman. "Oh… I know that look. Let me take a guess, that ridiculous amount of money you'd been squandered was meant for a replacement to that shirt you're wearing, wasn't it?"

Zoro nodded solemnly, staring resolutely at the bottom of his empty mug. More liquor was quickly poured into the mug effortlessly by Al and Zoro threw back a decent amount once the older bartender finished his work, the whole time Rederick laughing at the swordsman's misfortune.

"Man, I gotta say it's way better on this side. I've been where you are, trust me. From personal experience I'd say it'd probably be better at this point to go back without a shirt and no money than with the stained one and no money. Both options suck, but at least you have the element of confusion on your side when they ask what happened. Oh, and don't answer, they'll be too preoccupied with trying to find out what happened than to bother about some chump change."

Zoro seriously considered the idea but knew Nami would never fall for it. He was never going to get out of her debt now, not that he'd have been able to anyways considering the navigator's nature.

Reminiscing on the past, Rederick again looked discontented and silence overcame the two drinking companions for a few minutes before a group of people busted into the bar.

"Roronoa Zoro! Where are you?! Word's been going around that the Pirate Hunter has been waltzing around without a care in the world around here. SHOW YOURSELF!" a man, presumably the leader of the group, bellowed into the bar.

Scores of patrons fled out of the bar upon recognition of the man and the challenge administered and soon there was only the opportunistic group of men, Al behind the bar, Rederick looking back to the newcomers, and Zoro paying no attention to them. Hoping that his lack of interest would dissuade them from making any regretful decisions, Zoro simply continued to take swigs of his drink. After sizing up the antagonizing group at the entrance of the bar, Rederick turned back as well, uninterested.

The leader stepped forward and slowly made his way to the two remaining customers.

"Well that saves me some trouble. I'll make it easy for you, Roronoa; you come in without resistance and we won't have to kill you."

Zoro continued to ignore the man, something that quickly enraged the townsman as his face twitched in anger.

"What's the matter?! Too scared to talk? Fine with me, but look me in the eyes at least, coward," the man commanded, his temperament quickly becoming more aggressive.

"Wait, Jacob! Don't get angry, the marines pay more when you bring them in alive!" a voice called back from the group.

Another moment passed without any sort of recognition from the man he sought to capture.

"DAMNIT!" Jabob's patience snapped. "If you won't face me like a man you filthy pirate then I'll make you!"

Jacob forcibly grabbed Zoro's shoulder to turn him around and instead of doing so he was met with the butt of a sword digging into his gut. The force of the blow knocked the wind out of the townsman and disoriented him as well. Jacob clutched his stomach, gasping for air, as he stumbled backwards and fell into the clutches of his now infuriated men.

Aware that a fight was inevitable at this point, Zoro stood up from his spot, drawing only Wado Ichimonji in the process.

"Well then, since it looks like I've got no other choice, I may as well use this opportunity to try out a new move."

The group of would-be bounty hunters had placed their leader on the ground, the man curled up and choking for breaths of air, and split into two groups on either side of him, slowly advancing to the green haired swordsman. Weapons were drawn and murderous looks were in their eyes, they would not take this bounty in alive.

Focusing on his performance, the swordsman closed his eyes and focused on a whirlpool, more specifically, the rotating motions it performed. Listening closely to the footsteps on the ground, Zoro decided to go with the group on the right for convenience and with that decided on he spun Wado Ichimonji into the air.

"Ittoryu… Wind Bullet!"

The katana furiously and flatly spun, the blade parallel to the ground and light breezes of air could be felt circling the sword as it began to stop rising. When the katana had reached the apex of the toss, Zoro quickly clutched the blade in his hands while taking a step forward, his arms behind him poised to make a thrusting motion. Pushing forward with enough force to perform the attack but not enough to do any serious damage, Zoro propelled Wado Ichimonji in front of him and when the thrust ended a gale of wind erupted, rocketing forward with an insane speed towards the right-side group. Members of the group were thrashed around like ragdolls by the squall and were cast out of the bar, some crashing through windows while others out the main entrance. One person was unfortunate enough to miss the open doors by mere inches as he tore through the wall next to it, a hole shaped like his body left in his wake.

Amidst the yells and bellows from the assaulted group and the shocked grunts and clatter from the remaining group, Zoro began his second offensive. Before the second group could react to the situation, Zoro had approached the foremost member with his blade reversed and made contact across the man's midsection in a swinging motion like a bat. Bent over forwards from the impact and practically hanging off the blade as it continued its swipe, the struck man flew backwards into a second unsuspecting individual.

Finally aware that Zoro had begun a second assault and that they were now two more men short, the remaining members began to rally, though frantically. One man tried to cleave forwards with the broadsword he wielded into the green haired swordsman but Zoro effortlessly sidestepped the blow before retaliating with one of his own, the dull side of the blade slamming into the man's chest.

Another assailant tried to take advantage of the position Zoro had put himself in with the latest attack by thrusting his sword forwards at the strawhat while in his vulnerable position. Were Zoro to simply dodge the attack, the inexperienced fighter would end up slaying his own comrade that Zoro had just attacked so to prevent that, the swordsman spun around to the left, reversing the blade's side again, and swung the katana with a backhand swipe that connected with the side of the man's head. The blow threw the targeted individual to the side, a gash covering the area of contact, and his weapon fell harmlessly to the ground. The hit was a little more brutal than Zoro would have liked it to be, but the he decided a simple cut on the head was much better than someone needlessly dying.

Of the sizable group that once stood before him only two now remained. The two men, having witnessed the Demon Cutter massacre their entire group without so much as breaking a sweat, shook with unrestrained fear and continually looked to the other and back hesitantly. Both were paralyzed and waited for the other to make a move before coming to a decision of how to proceed.

Zoro helped make their decision for them by glaring into each man's eyes before turning away and sheathing his katana. It sent the message that he didn't feel the need to continue his attack and that both shaking men had no chance at success, even with the ability to attack him unarmed and from behind. Both men simultaneously began wailing as they bolted out of the bar, leaving their wounded companions behind for whatever grim fate awaited them.

Zoro turned back to Jacob who had just managed to stand himself back up again and blocked his path to the exit.

"Wh… what do you want?" Jacob nervously asked.

Zoro inspected the man and saw that aside from being skinnier he was around the same build. A new and clean red shirt looked back at the swordsman and he smiled at his good fortune.

"First, give me your wallet." After the man immediately obliged, Zoro pointed to his shirt. "Take it off."

Jacob looked bewildered. "Take what off?" he asked confusedly, not exactly sure what the green haired swordsman meant.

"Your shirt. Take it off," Zoro repeated.

"My… shirt?"

Laughter could be heard back at the bar. "Well, well. Who knew the great Pirate Hunter was into this sort of thing?" a voice jeered.

Zoro quickly turned to the source. "SHUT UP! That's NOT what I meant!"

Rederick waved back, pretending to be unconvinced. "Sure thing. Don't worry; I won't tell anybody about your little secret, it's safe with me."

"This isn't what you think!" Zoro yelled back as he took his own shirt off and traded it with Jacob.

"Well if it wasn't before, it certainly is now," Rederick quipped jokingly.

"Why you! You want to fight or something?" Zoro, still shirtless, reached for his katana out of anger. The asshole laughing at him reminded him of that stupid cook, a trait that bothered the hell out of the swordsman.

"Not really, this is gay enough as it is," Rederick managed to choke out through muddled laughter.

His face red with a mix of fury and embarrassment, Zoro begrudgingly put on the red shirt he'd acquired from Jacob. It clung to his body a little more tightly than he would have preferred, but a shirt was a shirt and that was all that mattered at the moment. It was too bad that what Zoro had thought to be a brilliant idea turned out to implicate him in something yet again.

Done with the transaction, Zoro returned to the bar and when he was nearly back, a gritty voice called out desperately to him.

"ZORO! YOU BASTARD, I'LL KILL YOU RIGHT HERE AND NOW!"

It was Jacob, Zoro saw as he half turned back, and the man had drawn a hidden dagger that now dripped with a poison that seared the ground when droplets of the toxin fell to it. Without delay, Jacob threw himself at the swordsman in a sprint much quicker than the swordsman thought the man capable of, especially in his condition. Perhaps he'd been too ignorant of the man's abilities when he decided to incapacitate him rather than seriously hurt him.

Before Zoro could react to the situation and defend himself, the swordsman felt a surge of power emanate from behind him as something flew by the swordsman, just barely missing him. Jacob was then struck in the chest by an attack identical to the one Zoro had tested out, however there was a red aura surrounding the gale as it dug into the man's chest, thrashing about and covering him with deep wounds. Blood sprayed out as Jacob was thrown violently out of the bar and into the public where a crowd had begun to gather.

Zoro turned to where the attack had come from and saw only Rederick facing back. The bounty hunter was leaning back on his chair against the bar and held the handle that was strapped to his side in an outstretched arm that pointed at where Jacob had been. Similar to the attack he had unleashed, a red misty haze surrounded the hilt-like item in his grasp. The red haired bounty hunter placed the handle back in its sling before turning back around to finish his drink. Al cautiously rose from the bar to inspect the damage; he wasn't happy with the results.

"What in the hell is all this?! How am I s'posed to pay for these damages?!"

Zoro tossed the older barkeeper the wallet he'd taken from Jacob. "Here, don't know how much is in it, but hopefully enough to cover some of the damage." Zoro pointed to the rest of the attackers that lay unconscious on the ground. "I'm sure between him and the rest of these guys there should be enough to compensate you for the trouble."

"Oh, err, that's true, I s'pose." Al flipped through the contents of the wallet before pocketing the hefty sum of cash that was inside.

"That was awesome, Zoro! Here, let's have a shot or two to celebrate!" Rederick said while patting the green haired swordsman on the back.

"Al!"

"Huh?"

"Give us two shots of your finest!" Rederick boisterously said.

"At a time like this?" Al asked dejectedly.

"Of course, when is there a better time?" the red haired bounty hunter retorted.

Without arguing further, the aged bartender grabbed four shot glasses and filled them near the brim with high-quality looking liquor. He placed the glasses in front of the two drinking buddies.

"Shots?" Zoro grimaced. He didn't drink to get wasted often, so taking shots wasn't something he took a fancy to.

"Oh come on! What's the harm? Besides, they're on me, don't tell me you're going to reject the offer," Rederick jeered.

"I'll take them," Zoro simply stated.

Laughing, Rederick took both shots in hand and held them out for Zoro to cheers. Grabbing his two, Zoro lightly gestured with one of his glasses to the red haired bounty hunter before throwing the shot back. The liquor it contained burned the back of his throat as it went down. The green haired swordsman quickly followed the first shot with the second and looked at Rederick to see the Falken crew member clanking his now empty glasses together victoriously, a wide grin on his face.

"In any case," Zoro said before placing his glasses back on the bar, "the hell _was_ that? What did you do back there?"

Rederick looked slightly confused. "What do you mean? I did what you did."

The look of confusion found its way twofold onto Zoro. "What _I_ did? I used a sword for my attack, something you don't have. Besides," Zoro pointed at the blood trail, "I certainly didn't eviscerate anyone with mine."

Rederick blinked at the swordsman. "Did that bother you or something? I was just helping out a friend. That guy was definitely going to kill you back there."

"Kill me?" Zoro scoffed. "Not likely."

"Fine, fine. I'll go out and check on him, how does that sound?" Rederick said as he rolled his eyes.

"Do what you want," Zoro shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me."

Zoro watched as the red haired bounty hunter got up after finishing his last drink and walked outside to Jacob. After a moment of inspection, the Falken crew member bent down and clasped something in the wounded man's hands before heading back to the bar, pilfering wallets from the rest of the unconscious gang on the way.

"What was that all about?" Zoro asked as Rederick took his seat again and handed Al the wallets.

"A parting gift," Rederick responded without looking.

"A gift? That's strangely kind of you," Zoro noted with a grin.

"Not as much as you'd think," Rederick said before returning the smirk.

Rederick's grin suddenly disappeared without notice and he stared dismally into his drink. Zoro was about to ask what was wrong when he suddenly felt a surge of immense power from the bounty hunter. Zoro was baffled by the sensation, it was almost as if Rederick was getting… stronger? Not to mention, Zoro was confident in his abilities to read a person's strength and what he'd discerned from the red haired bounty hunter at first was nothing in comparison to what he saw now. The Falken crewmember was insanely good at hiding his strength and Zoro wondered if he'd have been actually able to capture the strawhat had he so desired.

Before the swordsman had a chance to question his companion Rederick began muttering nervously to himself.

"Who was it? Was it Kael? No… don't think it was… not sure though… god I hope not."

Rederick suddenly stood up and lightly waved goodbye to Al before turning to Zoro.

"Sorry, friend, but I have something I need to do, something I need to find out. Drop by again before you set sail, I'll buy you another round." The red haired bounty hunter weakly smiled at the swordsman, no feeling behind the gesture.

Zoro noted that he looked worried about something, or someone; gravely worried at that. He nodded at the bounty hunter before the red haired man hurriedly took his leave and it looked like it was everything he could do not to run.

Zoro rested himself against the bar for a couple of minutes after Rederick had left. Feeling thirsty, Zoro brought his drink up to his mouth to take a swig but another sight caused the green haired swordsman to drop the mug, its contents scattering everywhere as the cup crashed onto the ground. Taking a moment to reconfirm what he was looking at, Zoro gaped at the front door with his mouth hanging open, gasping in shock.

Robin stood in between the doorway, bloody and beaten. She clutched her right arm and awkwardly rested her weight on her left foot before limping towards the bewildered swordsman.

* * *

Jacob couldn't have been any more confused.

First that red haired jackass decimates him then he rewards him? What the hell was that guy's deal?

Pain coursed throughout the man's entire body and the shoddy bandages that covered it did nothing to help. His men, what was left of them at least, had brought him to their meeting grounds before addressing his wounds. They'd asked why he wouldn't let them bandage up his hand and what he was holding, but Jacob would be damned if he let them know.

The townsman continued walking through the jewelry district in his attempt to find an appraiser for what he held in his hand. Looking down and opening up his fist, Jacob was greeted with the magnificent site of a sizable, perfectly shaped ruby. Who knew how much the he'd be able to get with something of this caliber? It might make up for the botched attempt at capturing the Pirate Hunter, that's for certain.

Finally finding the right shop, Jacob excitedly entered before getting the attention of an appraiser. Jacob eagerly handed the ruby over to the man for appraisal and was met with an incredulous and wild-eyed stare.

"Where did you get this gem?" the appraiser asked. "It's… unbelievable."

Jacob waved him off. "That doesn't matter, how much can I get for it?"

Jacob elatedly waited for a response before something unprecedented happened. The ruby, now sitting in the appraiser's hands, began cracking and chipping. Within seconds the magnificent ruby disintegrated into a pile of dust before a squall of air took the remains away in a red mist.

His mouth agape in horror at the loss of a huge amount of money, Jacob cursed his fortune. A thought then occurred to the townsman as he recalled what Rederick had said to him before clasping the ruby into his grasp.

"_Here, for your troubles. Don't go spending it all in one place."_

That bastard, Jacob thought, he knew this would happen, he knew that would happen to the ruby and he gave it to him anyway, mocking him as he did it. Somewhere, that bastard was laughing his ass off at what he did to the townsman with that damned swordsman. It wasn't enough to nearly kill him, but he found it necessary to taunt him as well?

Jacob stared grimly at the ground. He'd make them pay for this, for what they did to his men and most importantly what they did to him.

Oh yes, _they would pay._

_Ending note: Haha, man this is way bigger than I thought it would be, hopefully it makes up for my absence as of late. Don't expect chapters this big too often, though, since this was a huge endeavor and took longer than I care to think about. We're starting to really get things going here and we've barely scratched the surface of this story! Well maybe a little bit more than the surface, but there's still plenty to go, haha. Don't forget to leave a review to let me know how the chapter went! As always, I'm trying to improve and I like to think I'm making some progress but it's hard to tell. Hope you liked it! Oh, and I know that bemused 'technically' means bewildered or extremely surprised/dumbfounded, but I've always liked the 'mildly amused' connotation that's been given to it in recent years. It sounds better in my opinion and also it's so widely used in the way that I did that some consider it to be the actual meaning now. Oh well._


	11. Chapter 10

A/N: Finally back on track! Feels good to get another update out and hopefully the quality of my writing has improved a little bit since the last one. Meant to have this out yesterday but this week has been surprisingly busy. Not to worry, the rest of the updates will be out at some point in the week, though the timing may vary. The next update will have a good amount of fighting in it, so be ready! Enjoy.

* * *

The interior of _Journey's End_ somewhat startled the raven haired archeologist. Rather than being full of the usual gruff and ill-tempered deviants like most bars the archeologist had experienced, the _Journey's End_ was populated by a large assortment of various types of people. Granted, there were ruffians to be found; however there were also plenty of families and couples, both young and old, which populated the establishment. Robin could have easily mistaken the tavern for a restaurant if it weren't for the gratuitous amounts of alcohol cycling through by the hands of servers with little food to compensate.

Robin did a quick survey of the interior of the tavern and its patrons to see if there was anything out of the ordinary. Unsurprisingly, the archeologist found nothing of notability and lightly sighed under her breath; it unfortunately wasn't going to be as simple as she'd have liked to find what she needed.

It wasn't a problem of experience since the raven haired archeologist had found herself in bars countless times throughout her life. Though she didn't particularly enjoy their atmosphere or usual inhabitants, bars provided an easy and effective environment for meetings and information gathering. A meeting could be made public or private inside a bar should the situation call for it and drinks could be provided to relieve tension and calm nerves. Not to mention that the clients she would normally meet up with seemed to be the most comfortable when they were in such a location.

The problem the archeologist was having wasn't that she couldn't find what she was looking for so much as that she had no idea what she was looking for to begin with; at least when she was sent for meetings by Sir Crocodile she knew that she was meeting a person, regardless of how much she knew about said person. When you know what you're looking for, everything becomes a process of elimination and meticulous calculation made that process easier, something the raven haired archeologist was quite good at. To that end, the archeologist knew that whatever had brought her into the _Journey's End_ was still residing inside of it. The most important thing about locating her target was not letting it escape from under her eyes, and nobody who had left since the woman's entrance gave her any indication of interest.

Despite her lack of a target, Robin knew she had to make her move quickly lest she appear to be out of place. Someone like her at a bar wasn't unheard of, however if a person walks into a bar and just stands around, they're going to be noticed regardless of how they look. Quickly glancing around the establishment for a place to sit, Robin found that all of the tables were either occupied or had half-empty drinks sitting on top. All that was left open was the bar at the end of the tavern, a pathway right in front of the doorway conveniently leading directly to the stools.

Robin walked with a tempered pace to the bar while keeping her eyes open for anything that seemed out of the ordinary. The only thing that stuck out in particular to the strawhat was a lone male, mid twenties it looked like, who was sitting alone at a table with more drinks on the table than he could have acquired. There were four empty glasses scattered around the table, not including the half-filled one inside of his hands. From what the archeologist had gleamed of the service inside the _Journey's End_, there was no way the servers would let one person accrue five glasses on his own without clearing some of them off of the table. That, plus two disturbed chairs that differed from the rest, lead Robin to believe the brown haired man at the table had two companions, though they were likely to no longer be inside the tavern. What was more interesting was the fact that the brown haired individual looked like it was taking everything for him to not simply pass out at the table. Noticeable signs of fatigue and exhaustion overcame the rest of the features on the man and his face showed signs of drying sweat.

Reaching the bar, Robin took an empty seat in between two customers, allowing a chair of separation between her and each person. Although it was important to not draw unwanted attention to herself by sitting too close to people she didn't know, the archeologist also preferred to have her own personal space as well; the subtlety was just a benefit of the desire.

Almost immediately after sitting down the raven haired archeologist was assaulted by a jaded, scratchy voice.

"What d'ya want?" it asked impatiently.

Robin looked up from the bar to where she thought the voice came from to see nothing but a row of liquor bottles resting on a perch. Confused, the raven haired archeologist began looking around to find the source of the voice.

"Down here, lady," the voice established more irritably than before. Robin looked downwards to see a woman of short stature staring back up at her. The smaller bartender clenched her jaw and tapped her foot. "Are you getting anything or not? I ain't got all day," she growled, clearly losing what little patience she had.

Robin smiled at the woman. "Hello, yes; do you serve coffee?" she asked politely, tilting her head to the side to show more amiability.

The squat woman looked confusedly to the archeologist. "Coffee? This is a bar, what do you want coffee for?"

"It's my favorite," Robin simply answered, smiling again. Reaching into her pocket, the raven haired strawhat withdrew a sufficient amount of money and placed it onto the bar. "If it isn't any trouble for you, I'd like a cup with some sugar and cream if you have any. This should cover it," Robin indicated the money she'd put down, "and there's a tip in it as well for you."

The woman tipped herself up on her toes to see the money Robin had been talking about. Eyeing it quickly and decisively, the squat bartender snatched the money off of the table and stashed it into her pocket without even counting it. Robin considered that she was able to discern the amount in the short time she looked at it, but it wasn't a pressing enough matter for her to linger on.

Free from the lovable company of the short and fast-paced bartender, Robin returned her attention to the mid-sized male sitting alone inside the _Journey's End_. Closing her eyes and focusing on her devil fruit power, the raven haired archeologist grew an ear from the bottom of the man's table; if he said anything to himself, she was sure to hear it. The strawhat also wanted to have eyes watching the fatigued man; however eyes weren't exactly a discreet thing to have lying around. There were plenty of people inside of the tavern and if any one of them saw an eye coming out of the ceiling or wall they would be sure to make a scene of it.

It didn't take long for the brown haired man to deliberate with himself.

"Gah, I wish Callos wasn't so damned carefree all the time…" he muttered to himself.

Robin's ears perked at the mention of Callos. Was it the same one she had met just moments ago? It had to be, but why would a capable person like him leave his companion in such a condition? Judging from her brief interaction with the younger male, Robin saw him as a good-hearted person. She didn't see him as the type to leave one of his friends alone unless they could take care of themselves. Sticking with her first impression, Robin guessed that whoever was at the table must be pretty strong in Callos's eyes for him to leave the man in such a disparate state.

"I hope he doesn't come back empty handed," the man at the table continued, "I can't really account for Edel anymore…"

Edel? Likely a comrade, Robin decided, though of what sort she could not yet decipher. The raven haired archeologist also found herself curious as to what the two she bumped into earlier were supposed to get that was so important.

A loud, deep sigh was heard from the person Robin was spying on. "What am I getting so worked up about? Must be the exhaustion talking…" Robin heard the dull thump of a mug hitting the table followed by the rapping of fingers. "It's not like they'd come back without retrieving the—"

A clank on the bar in front of the strawhat distracted her attention from what the individual was about to divulge. Cursing the bartender's awful timing under her breath, the archeologist brought her gaze downwards to the squat woman, a cup of steaming coffee placed before her.

"One sugar or two?" the woman asked, tapping her foot in the meantime.

"Uh…" Robin's mind was racing. She desperately wanted to return her attention to the man at the table who was still deliberating with himself, however whenever she tried a sharp grunt came from the bartender by clearing her throat as if she knew that Robin was trying to ignore her.

"Simple question, lady."

"Two sugars, please." Robin absent mindedly poured some of the cream from a small saucer into her beverage, silently pleading with the barkeep to leave her alone.

Two sugar cubes plopped into the coffee and the woman walked away to tend to other customers. Grateful to be rid of the impatient woman, Robin began stirring her drink, dissolving the sugar and sweetening the flavor to her liking.

Finally able to return her focus to her target, Robin was sorely disappointed upon discovery that the individual had stopped talking. Learning of his goal would have been able to tell the raven haired archeologist whether or not his group was the cause of the disturbance. Even still, Robin felt confident that Callos and whoever he was with, his friend at the table included, were somehow involved in what was going on.

It wasn't until Robin was halfway finished with her cup of coffee that the person she was spying on did anything more. The archeologist shot a glance back to see him finish off the rest of his drink before putting it back on the table and tossing a couple of bills on it in tips to whoever was serving him. Standing up, the man surprised Robin by being much taller than she thought him to be and if she had to guess the strawhat would say he came to around 6' 4". Most of the difference in height from what she guessed to actuality must have been due to the longer legs the man had.

Without another word, Callos's friend made his way to the exit of the bar.

Robin followed suite.

* * *

"And that's when I singlehandedly defeated the lifeless, bloodthirsty war statues inside the tomb and rescued our crew, not to mention snagging the diamond as well!"

Boisterous laughter could be heard from the sniper of the Straw Hat crew as he wrapped up one of his most extravagant stories yet. His companion, the doctor of said crew, attentively listened to every word spoken with glossy eyes filled with excitement. Chopper began cheering and clapping his hands, fascinated by the sniper's latest story.

"Wow, Usopp, you did that all by yourself?!" the young doctor eagerly asked.

"Sure did." Usopp pointed at himself with his thumb, planting a foot on the railing of the ship while pretending to peer off into the distance. "It's a simple task for someone as great as I am!"

"You're so awesome, Usopp!" Chopper began clutching his face, hardly able to contain his enthusiasm. "Can I see it?"

Usopp brought his foot off of the railing and looked at the reindeer. "Huh? See what?"

The doctor began jumping up and down, his arms outstretched in the air expectantly. "The diamond, of course!"

Usopp stifled a nervous yelp. The last thing he needed was for Nami to punish him for touching her precious diamond, the last beating he'd gotten from her left him sore for a week.

"No way!"

"Aww, come on!" Chopper began wagging side to side. "It would be _so_ cool to see, and I won't tell anyone you showed me." The reindeer noticed his companion start to soften and continued to press the matter. "We'll only take a quick peek then we'll put it back like nothing happened!"

Usopp rubbed his chin in thought. Chopper had a point, it's not like Nami would notice if he took it out for a couple of seconds. She might be sharp, but she wasn't _that _observant. Besides, he'd been wanting to look at it again for some time now.

"Hmm, you bring up a good case, Chopper. Okay, let's go."

The young doctor began jumping again and he followed the curly haired sniper into the women's quarters, peeking around in every direction to make sure the duo weren't being watched.

Once inside, Usopp walked over to Nami's bed and lay on the ground, pushing himself under her bed while rummaging around. Moments later, the sniper pulled himself out with a small chest in his grasp and an even smaller key between his teeth. Placing the key in the keyhole on the lockbox, Usopp opened and retrieved from the inside the enormous diamond that the crew had recently obtained.

"Whoa…" both of the strawhats murmured at the sight of the dazzling jewel.

Without warning Chopper grabbed a hold of the gem in Usopp's grasp. "Here, let me hold it for a little."

Usopp didn't loosen his grasp. "What?! Are you crazy? It's already enough that I'm showing you the diamond to begin with, there's _no_ way I'm going to let you hold on to it!"

Chopper began to pull harder. "Come on, Usopp! You've already had your turn. Stop being selfish and hogging it all to yourself!"

"I'm not _hogging_ anything, we're not even supposed to touch this thing, let alone take turns holding it. Seriously, let go so I can put it back before something happ—"

The diamond shot out of the grasp of the two arguing strawhats and flew up into the air. Both crewmembers tried frantically to catch it, Chopper even changing into his human form, and ended up fighting each other over who was going to catch it. Without a hand to fall into, the large diamond hit the floor of the room with a resounding thud and chipped a part of the floor, rolling around before coming to a halt at the entrance of the door.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Usopp cried out in tandem with Chopper.

"What do we do now, Usopp?! We broke it!" Chopper screeched through choked tears.

"There's no way, idiot! That's a diamond, they don't chip that easily. Unless…" Usopp shuddered to think of what heinous acts the orange haired navigator would commit if the diamond ended up being a rhinestone.

The sniper hesitantly approached the diamond lying at the other side of the room before cautiously picking it up in his grasp and inspecting it. Much to the youth's relief, there was no noticeable damage on the gem and it looked as though nothing had ever happened to it; it even sparkled brightly as though it had just been recently polished. Considering the nature of the ship's navigator, Usopp thought it very likely.

"Phew, no damage that I can see."

"I thought you said there wouldn't be any damage? Wait, were you lying to me, Usopp?"

Usopp sighed. "Of course not, Chopper. Have I ever lied to you before?"

"That's true." Chopper began trying to fix the chip in the floor.

"Now then, I think we can both agree that the diamond needs to go back where it came." After the blue nosed reindeer nodded in approval, Usopp walked back over to the bed and placed the enormous diamond back into the lockbox, making sure to meticulously put everything exactly as he had found it.

Usopp then pointed to the door. "Let's go back outside, Chopper…" The sniper paused, inspecting the floor. "Was that rug there before when we came in?"

Chopper yelped in surprise, furiously nodding his head as he pushed the confused sniper out of the room as quickly as he could. The blue nosed reindeer didn't want his friend to know that the diamond had chipped the floor since he would probably make things worse trying to fix it, so instead Chopper had moved the rug that adorned the floor so that it covered the blemish. There was no way anybody would notice the difference.

"Well then, I'm going to go back to my workshop to try making some more… Usopp?" Chopper tugged at the sniper's brown pants, trying to get his attention. For some reason the curly haired youth was peering off into the distance. "What is it?"

"It looks like there're two people off in the distance coming towards the ship, maybe Sanji and Franky? I can't really tell because of the sun and all the rocks…"

Chopper beamed. "Oh really? Let's go say hi to them! They may need some help carrying their things, after all!"

"It doesn't look like they're carrying anything, Chopper." The sniper waited for a response, getting none. "Chopper?" He looked around, seeing no signs of his furry friend until he looked down at the beach. The small doctor had departed the ship and was already on his way to the two coming down the beach.

"Sheesh, doesn't he have any patience? Looks like I've got no choice."

Usopp jumped down and slowly began following the reindeer.

* * *

Twenty minutes. Twenty minutes the archeologist had trailed the black haired man from the bar and still her search proved fruitless. Not completely fruitless, Robin corrected herself, since she briefly saw her target stop and confer with a female that had dark green hair for a little. Robin would have considered the color unusual had she not been exposed to something similar on almost a daily basis.

The black haired associate of Callos had been all over the area, even at one point crossing the bridge into what Robin remembered from Circa was the Central District. Fortune had smiled on the raven haired woman considering that the old lady had graciously given her a bridge pass, saving the archeologist considerable effort in crossing the bridge in pursuit without one.

Eventually the black haired individual found his way to another bar that was adorned with a large clock as the sign, aptly named the "Clock's Hand". The somewhat lanky man stretched himself out before walking into the bar and Robin bided her time in the meanwhile. She didn't want to enter too quickly in the event that the man went to the wrong place. If he was to leave in a short time, he would likely see the raven haired archeologist, something she could not afford. It was a lot easier to notice somebody following you if you kept seeing them around. To avoid being noticed, the archeologist watched from a back alley near the bar where nobody had been travelling through.

A tap on the archeologist's shoulder distracted her from her scouting and she subconsciously turned around to find the source. Robin startled and took a few steps back, a grim face moments prior mere inches from her face adorned with strikingly deep, black hair. The intruder had buzzed hair with facial hair of the same length covering his face as if he missed his morning shave. A dour grin accompanied the face and Robin instantly felt herself tense up under the invading stare.

"So…" the man finally spoke, a dirty voice underlining the malicious aura permeating him, "what are you doing?"

"Excuse me?" Robin held her ground, trying to find out what the man wanted.

"You look like you don't belong here, miss."

Robin gritted her teeth. "What makes you say that?"

"Where are we, if you wouldn't mind indulging my question." The man curled his lips even wider, awaiting the archeologist's response.

Robin was peeved that the man completely ignored her question but wanted to avoid an unnecessary conflict should her target come out any time soon. The sooner she was done with the unsightly individual, the better. "Central," she plainly stated.

"Ahh, correct." The man clapped his hands together once, mockingly applauding Robin's answer. "Now, if you'd be so kind, and please, mind the rudeness of the question, would you tell me what you're doing here?" The tone the man was using appeared jovial and kind, however Robin could tell there was poison behind his words.

"That's none of your business."

The jet black haired man began laughing. "But of course, you couldn't be more right!" He placed his hands in his pockets, jingling the change inside. "I only ask because there's not too much to do in this area, quite honestly. There're bars, sure, but you don't look the type to be drinking alone."

Robin opened her mouth to talk but was cut off by her inquisitor.

"You could, perhaps, be here to trade an item or look for something in particular… but the highest quality products are sold here and you don't seem to have that much money on you. I also don't see anything of value in your possession…"

That eliminated the possibility of a mugging, Robin noted. If he knew she had nothing of worth, why would he bother approaching her?

"All that leaves is either seeing the mayor for some reason or travelling through on your way to somewhere else, but considering how _nasty_ you were with me not moments ago, those both are unlikely…" The man looked condescendingly down at the archeologist. "So I ask again, _what_ are you doing here?"

Robin crossed her arms, subtly preparing herself to use her devil fruit power if she had to. The raven haired archeologist had no idea what the man in front of her wanted, but judging from his presentation and line of questioning it couldn't be anything good.

"Silent, huh?" The man removed a hand from his pocket, flipping a larger coin in his hand and catching it before it fell. The coin made a pitched tone anytime he flipped it. "Well, that's fine with me, mind if I answer for you?"

Robin made no response.

"Course you don't," the light bearded man continued, leaning his head to the side, widening his toothy grin. "You were _following_ somebody, weren't you?"

Robin pursed her lips. He was right, that was for certain, but _how_ did he know? Had he been following her himself without the archeologist realizing it? It was certainly possible since she was more focused on her target than anything else, however that begged the question as to why this man would want to follow her. It was possible he was a bounty hunter looking to collect on her value, yet Robin didn't get that impression since there would be no reason to question her like he was doing.

"That sounds less like a question and more like an accusation," Robin finally responded.

"Oh, come now," the man chuckled, "you make it seem as though there's no basis for it!"

"Well there—"

"The basis for it, dear, is that the dashing fellow over there you've been tailing for a while, right in there…" The buzzed man pointed at the _Clock's Hand_. "He's my crewmate."

Robin cursed her bad luck. The questioning was all a façade, something of an entertainment for the scraggly individual in front of her. Regardless of how she reacted here, things were going to get messy. Better for her if she initiated it.

"Seis Fleur!" Robin cried out, arms protruding out of the man's body to restrict his neck, arms, and legs. Lucky for the archeologist was that the bustling activity around the area drowned out her call and most people save a couple of travelling eyes as they passed by the alley were unaware of the conflict.

"Well now, this isn't good…" The pitch black haired man tried moving around, unable to do so due to the archeologist's perfect placement of her limbs. Even if he was three times stronger, Robin locked his body up in a way that negated any and all of his physical strength. "Oh ho…" he continued, chuckling to himself, "looks like you've got quite the hold on me, what now?"

Robin knew exactly what came next.

"Clutch!"

Robin waited for her arms to constrict themselves, rendering the man unconscious from the insane positions they forced him into, joints popping viciously throughout the process. However, nothing happened even though she felt her arms apply the necessary pressure.

"Clutch!" she called out again, this time focusing more intensely on the command.

Her intensified concentration made no difference, however, and it felt as though she was trying to crush stone, the man's muscles not giving her any leeway in her endeavor.

No matter, Robin thought, she would only have to add more arms. The more she added the more force she could apply to the man. She only hoped to incapacitate the man, however if he was going to put up this much resistance she might have to break a bone or two to loosen him up.

"Trienta Fluer!" The archeologist was no longer fooling around. Scores more arms coiled around the man in the same fashion as those previous to them, applying even more pressure and tightening the grip further.

"You're wasting your time, Nico Robin…" the constricted man jeered. He apparently knew who she was beforehand.

"If you say so… CLUTCH!"

This time there was hardly any resistance from the man in her grasp. Robin felt her arms clench together swiftly and forcibly before shockwaves of pain travelled through her arms. It was only then that the raven haired archeologist noticed that there was no popping noise to be heard, only a sound similar to glass shattering.

Crying out in pain, Robin dispersed her extra arms in a shower of petals and inspected the original ones attached to her body, droplets of blood forming at multiple spots on each one.

Looking back to where her adversary was, Robin saw that where a crumpled body should lay, instead deep black stones resided in a pile. Did he have some sort of ability that she was unaware of?

"Your devil's fruit power is as dangerous as they say it is," a disturbingly familiar voice said from behind the woman, "let's see whose is more so."

* * *

"Think that's the ship Garand was talking about?"

A deep voice grunted.

"Yeah, that's true. It's not like there's any other ships within ten miles of this one, is there?" Callos jeered.

His companion, Andy, looked strangely at the bronze haired youth.

"What?" Callos returned the look. "You never talk, man. I'm just pretending you are so it's not _too_ boring having a one sided conversation."

Andy began laughing, although it was a very timid, soft spoken laugh. Callos chuckled to himself as well at the response.

"Well, if your actual voice is anything like your laugh, I can see _why_ you don't talk."

Callos mimicked the angry glare his larger friend suddenly gave him before heartily laughing at the man's annoyance. The bronze haired bounty hunter's laughter was cut short by a forcible smack to the back of his head from his companion.

"Ow! That was totally uncalled for, Andy, _totally_ uncalled for," Callos pouted.

A lone smile replaced the angry look on the larger man's face and he pointed off into the distance.

"Oh! You're right, it's the Straw Hat crew! I'd recognize that straw hat Jolly Roger anywhere, it's all they ever talk about… or rather, 'don't' talk about in the papers nowadays, Strawhat Luffy and his gang."

Callos ignored Andy roll his eyes at the bronze haired youth placing words in his mouth again and peered off into the distance.

"Huh, looks like there's two people coming our way…"

A low growl from Andy confirmed his suspicion. Callos looked over peculiarly at the larger man.

"A growl? I don't hear that from you unless there's a fight near…" The bounty hunter sighed under his breath. "Man, and I was _so_ hoping that this wouldn't end up in a fight, I'm in no mood to from our last bounty…"

The youth was brought back from his reminiscing by a nudge on his arm.

"Alright, alright. I'd prefer not to, so let's try it my way first. If they put up a fight, then we can take them out." Callos grabbed his arm, pressing on his muscles to loosen them up as a smile wore its way onto his face. "In any case, I wonder who we'll end up fighting; they've gotten quite the large bounty for such a small crew in no time at all. This won't be a walk in the park, you know?"

Andy nodded with a hum.

"Well then…" Callos chided with a grin, unable to hide his mirth, "Showtime."

_Ending note: Sorry if things seem a little rushed, wanted to have this out before I left for the night (unexpected plans). I'll look over it again when I have the chance and if something looks off I'll fix it before the next update (feel free to point out anything if you notice it). Another update should be rolling out in the next few days and it will contain the entirety of Robin's fight (hopefully). I meant to go into it more but lollotsofdetail and next thing I knew the segment was at the right length. This may not be quite the answer to the cliffhanger I left you all off at, but other things need to be explained first before we get to that. Hopefully the new content will soothe your anger towards me for just a little longer! Hope you enjoyed and don't forget to drop a review!_


	12. Chapter 11

A/N: Allllllllright, another update! This is a _very_ lengthy one, so get comfortable and pace yourself! I'm going to take a moment here to say that I'm likely going to have to retcon some things as I write this story. For those of you not familiar with the term, it basically means I'm going to go back and alter previously posted areas to better fit with what I'm doing now. I don't plan on altering large events, and to give an example of what I mean, I'm going to have the time frame from where Rederick leaves the bar to when Zoro sees Robin at the entrance be a few minutes rather than a couple seconds (chapter 9). Since this is a very large story that I'm working on as I go (plus I've been working on it for a long time) there will be differences from what I plan to what gets written. Hopefully I won't _have_ to make many changes after this, but you never know. If I do, I'll be sure to let you know what it was and where. I've also slightly changed the discussion with Robin and the new guy at the end of last chapter since that part was the rushed area and it didn't feel clean to me (most importantly I changed it so they were in a back alley instead of being out in the open). Well that's enough of the insane author's note, so enjoy!!

* * *

"Your devil's fruit power is as dangerous as they say it is, let's see whose is more so."

The voice was certainly that of the man that should have been crushed, Nico Robin had no doubt in her mind about it. The fact alone that his body was shattered into black fragments was enough to disturb the archeologist, but now he was directly behind her? Not the greatest discovery.

Robin bolted forwards to get out of arm's reach while looking back to see if her suspicions were true. The grinning visage of a man with short, jet black hair proved the strawhat right in her guess and Robin jumped forward while turning back to face her opponent. Surprisingly, he hadn't made a move to pursue her since she'd begun making distance and Robin guessed that he hadn't even flinched at her reaction, something that did not bode well for the woman.

"Jumpy, are we?" The man cocked his head to the side and grinned eagerly at Robin. "Good to see that you're not going to try to run away, not yet at least. I've been itching to do something fun ever since we docked at this island."

"We?" Robin asked, picking up on the word he'd used. At the moment the raven haired archeologist had only been able to learn of four people in this mystery crew, Callos who she had run into, the large man accompanying him, his companion inside the bar that she had followed and now this character. Should he decide to talk, Robin felt she could gather some much needed information from him.

The jet black haired man held one arm while tapping his chin with the other, considering something. "Hmm… I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you a little bit, seems only fair considering I busted up your arms before getting a chance to introduce myself."

Robin looked down, raising her arms palms upward to inspect the damage her opponent had just mentioned. Though he'd definitely exaggerated the extent of her injuries, Robin's arms had certainly had seen better days. Spotted areas along the two limbs had blood begin to form, some more seriously than others, and there were a couple areas where the blood began streaking down the arm.

"Well, for starters, I am Raldios Wells, member of the Falken Bounty Hunters. As I'm sure you've surmised from the introduction, we're a group of bounty hunters. Under normal circumstances you wouldn't have anything to worry about since our crew's policy of chasing a bounty is to pick a specific target and track them. As of right now the Straw Hats aren't on our radar."

Raldios gestured back to the _Clock's Hand_. "However, I find it disturbing you would tag one of my crewmates. Even if you didn't know he was one, the fact remains he is a bounty hunter and I doubt a pirate such as yourself would gain anything of value by following him. What reason did you have?"

"Why don't you tell me?" Robin asked, smirking.

"Oho," Raldios chuckled, taking the flipping coin from earlier out of his pocket, thumbing it in his hand, "looks like you had a reason, one way or another." The bounty hunter thought to himself for a moment before narrowing his eyes and glancing briefly at the archeologist. "I wonder if…" he paused again, deep in thought. "It's possible…"

Raldios turned his attention to a clearly confused archeologist. "Tell me, did you and the rest of your crew come to this island of your own desire or was your course… altered?"

The question stunned Robin and a surprised grunt escaped the raven haired archeologist. She didn't know what he was piecing together, but the strawhat got the impression it wasn't something she'd like.

"I guess that settles it then…" Raldios flipped the coin into the air and caught it. "I can't let you leave." He spoke dispassionately, indiscriminately, and kept his eyes half opened on the coin in his hand. Suddenly he looked dangerously at the archeologist. "I guess I'll have to go against crew policy and collect your bounty early."

The bounty hunter raised his right arm up into the air and thrust it into the ground below him, the earth giving way effortlessly as if he were punching through a cloud. Robin, startled by the sudden gesture, jumped backwards to get herself moving and to extend the distance between herself and her new foe, her specialty in fighting being long distance and avoiding close encounters.

Robin made it halfway through her jump backwards before something grabbed a hold of her right ankle, causing her to get thrown into the ground on her back. The archeologist landed hard and had the wind knocked out of her, however what alerted her more was the jabbing pain in her right ankle, likely twisted from the fall.

The raven haired archeologist looked incredulously to her hurt ankle, gasping wildly for air, to see that a hand protruding from the ground had it firmly in its grasp. Not understanding but having a sneaking suspicion of the source, Robin looked wearily at the bounty hunter not 20 feet from her and noticed that his arm wasn't so much penetrating the ground as it was _merging_ with it.

Raldios looked up from the ground with a devious grin on his face. "Surprised? I don't blame you, quite honestly. I've yet to come across a person who hasn't been." Reaching up with his other hand, Robin saw the man's limb fade to black as he bore it into the ground at shoulder width from the other.

The archeologist shrieked in agony as she felt something sharp pierce through her right arm above her elbow from the ground underneath her. Gasping heavily and grabbing at the wound, Robin looked to her side and saw a rough, jagged, and black spike dripping with her blood. It looked familiar to the archeologist, however the blood from her arm made it difficult to ascertain why and the horrendous pain clouded her judgment.

The raven haired woman heard a guttural, bloodthirsty laughter coming from her opponent.

"Did that hurt, Nico Robin? It didn't look too bad on my end, but it _sounded_ amazing. You have quite the voice; it's almost music to my ears to hear you scream like that. I'd love to hear it some more, but I'm afraid another yell like that and I'll have to speed things up; don't want to attract _too_ much attention before the right time, now do I?"

Robin opened her mouth to call out regardless, feeling her chances of escaping the situation better if there was a large commotion than being alone with this psycho, regardless if marines were to come or not. Before the raven haired archeologist could even utter a sound, she felt her ankle let go of and a second spike shot from the ground less than an inch from her mouth. The strawhat stifled her yell.

"That's more like it; you're _finally_ starting to understand. I'd prefer to take you in alive for the larger sum of money, but don't forget I have _no_ obligation to do so. Try that again and I'll make sure the next one goes through your throat."

Without warning the jet black haired bounty hunter stood up and withdrew his arms from the ground. With his arms came the spikes from where Robin was, a second extremely potent pain nearly overwhelming the archeologist. To prevent herself from crying out from the spike's removal, Robin covered her mouth with both of her hands and rolled over face-first onto the ground, using that and her hands to muffle as much of the noise as she could. Aside from not wanting the bounty hunter to follow through with his promise, Robin more so wanted to deny the fiend the satisfaction of hearing her scream again.

"You're a quick learner, I'll give you that." Raldios stretched his arms out in the air before continuing to do so with the rest of his body, loosening up his muscles. "Though I do have to profess a certain disappointment that I didn't get to hear that beautiful scream again," the man paused, looking morbidly at the strawhat, "perhaps I'll just force you to do it and then kill you. I do feel a bit weird simply threatening you without following through in any way, it just doesn't feel right."

Robin mostly ignored what her adversary was saying, instead trying to take advantage of his inactivity by standing up. Her right ankle still throbbed in pain from before, and the archeologist found it even harder to prop herself up without placing any weight on her right arm. She could hardly move it, let alone do any hard work with it.

Raldios furiously rubbed his head. "Gahhhh, I can't decide whether or not I want to kill you." He looked irately at the raven haired woman. "Oh well, I guess I could just knock you around a bit, see if I can make up my mind." The bounty hunter then smiled as he recalled the threat he'd made earlier. "Or perhaps you'll make up my mind for me."

The Falken crewmember bolted at the nearly incapacitated strawhat, a wild look in his eyes. Robin had almost made it fully into a standing position, however she knew that she wasn't going to make it in time to do something before her attacker made it to her. Slumping back on to her knees, the archeologist crossed her arms, her right arm lower than the other, and concentrated on her powers.

Two arms, one more bloodied than the other, sprouted from the ground slightly ahead of Raldios and clutched his ankles as he ran, similar to his affront against the archeologist, throwing the gruff individual headfirst towards the ground. Robin sprouted another two arms from the man's lower back as he fell and grasped around his face, pulling back and protruding his chin so that he would land on it first. The archeologist hoped that the impact would snap the man's neck backward; breaking it with a force she could not currently muster. It was a grisly way to end the encounter, but better it that he died than her.

Raldios slammed into the ground, his chin still extended from the archeologist's efforts, and wheezed upon impact. Much to Robin's horror, the bounty hunter's neck did not bend backwards at an impossible angle, rather it hardly moved at all as the man landed. Instead, the injured woman watched as the man's neck and chin turned black and into a stone of some sort just before impact, fragments of said stone chipping off of the man's chin as he hit.

Raldios continued panting heavily as the arms dispersed around him and grabbed at his chin hurriedly, blood starting to flow from in between his fingers. At this particular moment Robin could have sworn she heard the noise resemblant of a building wall getting destroyed off in the distance, but put it to the back of her mind.

"Shit, you really did a number on me there. Looks like I shouldn't get ahead of myself here, you're just as dangerous wounded as you are normally, if not more so. A cornered rat might put up a hell of a fight, but they don't hold a candle to a cornered snake." Raldios sneered at Robin's negative reaction to the last word he used. "Don't give me that look. You've rightly earned that title through your life, Nico Robin. You may be in a better place now, but a snake is always a snake, no matter how many times it sheds its skin."

Robin continued to glare at the man, clearly insulted and pissed off. Raldios shrugged his shoulders and looked apathetically to the angered woman.

"Don't be so offended. Or do, whatever, I don't really care." He brushed the dirt off of his pants. "It was a compliment if anything, since you must really be in a good crew now to have such a vehement response. I wonder what kind of people they are…"

"Don't you even THINK about the others!" Robin spat out, seething in fury. "Trash like you doesn't even have the right to talk about them. If you even think of doing anything to them I'll kill you."

Raldios straightened up, flicking his hand to get as much blood as he could off of it. The man placed his fingers in his mouth, drawing the rest of the blood on them into his mouth, spitting it to the side afterwards. Having cleaned most of the life fluid from his hand, Raldios wiped off the rest on his black pants.

"Kill me, will you? Looks like you just tried, sweetheart; how did that work out again?" He began lightly touching his chin to see if it was still bleeding, patches of his skin missing from the impact. "If you've been holding back, I suggest you stop doing so now. I know I will be."

It looked as though the bounty hunter was about to renew his assault, something Robin was not entirely prepared for yet. She needed some time to think, to analyze the situation and come up with a plan, she needed to distract the man who was likely going to try and kill her in just a few moments.

"Your power…" Robin began, noticing that her opponent paused in his advance, "a devil fruit, I presume?"

"Obviously."

"I'm interested in it, to be honest. I've never seen a power apart from my own able to sprout limbs like that." Robin gestured to where the bounty hunter had thrust his arms into the ground, simultaneously feeling her strength start to recover. "Care to explain?"

Raldios began to laugh. "Explain? I don't know what kind of people you've been fighting, Nico Robin, but I doubt many of them gave away the secrets of their devil fruit power so easily."

Robin grinned at her opponent. "You'd be surprised."

Raldios spread his arms out to the side and shrugged his shoulders. "I'm sure I would be." He narrowed his eyes, inspecting the archeologist. "Even still, I don't think I'll be giving up my advantage so easily, _especially_ against someone like you."

The raven haired archeologist chuckled. "What, you mean that I don't know about you being an Onyx man?" She renewed her grin with extra vigor when the bounty hunter looked back at her aghast. "Interesting power indeed, I guess that's why you were able to use your power through the earth."

"Oho, you really are as good as they say," Raldios said cautiously, preparing himself for any tricks the pirate across from him might come up with. If she already knew about his power, she might have an idea of how to counter it. "What gave it away?"

Robin pointed to where the bounty hunter had fallen. When he looked to where she indicated, Raldios noticed small chips of his onyx laying on the ground that had split from his chin.

"You were able to tell it was onyx from just that? I'm impressed."

Robin tossed back a loose tuft of hair, looking triumphantly at the bounty hunter. "I _am_ an archeologist, after all. It would also explain why you were able to transfer your arm through the ground like that. Since onyx is based off of quartz, the second most abundant mineral in the earth's crust, it would make sense that you could merge your body with the earth."

The Falken crewmember softly applauded the raven haired archeologist's deduction. "Fascinating. It's a real shame you're not a part of our crew, we could really use somebody like you."

Robin began clenching her right hand. Though it was still badly injured, the strength that had all but left the limb was now somewhat returning. "No thanks, I've seen your type before. Always biting off more than they can chew; reaching for the stars while forgetting to keep their feet on the ground. The kind that dies young."

Raldios's features twitched. "Die young?" he repeated mockingly. "You must have me mistaken for that piece of shit captain you have. If anyone is going to die young, it's him."

If the jet black haired individual had thought the archeologist was angry before, it didn't compare to how she looked now.

"Now that I think about it," the bounty hunter smugly continued, "I get that vibe from the rest of your crew as well. Cyborg Franky, Black Leg Sanji, Demon Cutter Zor—"

"YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTH, YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!" Robin bellowed at the Falken crewmember. "If you say another word about them, I'll make sure you _never_ say anything else again, living or not."

"Really now? And how would you go about doing th—"

The bounty hunter got no further in his dare when two arms sprouted from his body, one from his stomach and the other his upper back. The arm from his back bent around the top of his head and snatched his mouth while the one from his stomach clutched the bottom half, his jaw.

"I'll rip it right from your mouth," Robin answered the challenge coolly, her composure finally returning. "It's ungraceful and barbaric, but I swear it will happen if you ever speak ill of my crew again. It's one thing to say those things about me, but don't you _dare_ say those things about them."

Just as suddenly as they appeared the hands disappeared in an array of petals. Reprieved from the dangerous clasp on his mouth, Raldios coughed heavily while kneeling to the ground.

"So what's so special about Roronoa Zoro?" he finally asked after a moment, his voice a little shook up.

Robin said nothing in reply, though her question was still conveyed to her assailant all the same.

"You didn't react until I mentioned his name. Something special between you two?"

"Frankly that's none of your business."

"True enough, you remind me of someone else who used to be in my crew." Raldios stood back up and his eyes glossed over, deep in thought. "Just as hot as you are, if not more so. Calm and collected most of the time, but rile her up and holy shit she was a bitch. I think she had the hots for another person in my crew before she betrayed us, and somehow I imagine the two of them as what you and Roronoa Zoro must be like." His darker eyes sharpened, again focusing on the woman before him. "Strange how it works like that, isn't it?"

Robin shook her head. "I wouldn't know."

"ZORO! YOU BASTARD, I'LL KILL YOU RIGHT HERE AND NOW!"

The yell came from off in the distance, and Robin surmised that it had come from… the bar the person she had been tailing entered? Robin swore profusely under her breath and the only thing she could think about was that the taller bounty hunter had run across the swordsman and that the two of them were fighting right now.

Raldios looked over in the direction of the _Clock's Hand_ before smiling in amusement. "_Very_ strange how things work out like that…" he looked back to the archeologist, a bemused smile covering his face, "isn't it?"

Again, Robin did not answer the jet black haired man, however for different reasons this time. She no longer had any time to spare on the individual, more pressing matters had arisen. She found it ironic how she had earlier been struggling to gain extra time, now she could afford none.

Another intruding noise entered the alley the two were fighting in, the noise of a man crying out in pain and the smashing sound of wooden doors slamming open. The two dared a glance at the source, able to see nothing. Afterwards, both looked grimly at the other.

"I agree with you," Raldios spoke, breaking the silence, "we should end this now. Things sound like they're about to get pretty heavy; it would be bad for our fight to continue going. Wouldn't want the town patrol breathing down our necks, now do we?"

"Can't say I do."

"Finally, we agree on something."

"Never thought it would happen."

Raldios began to chuckle before charging at the raven haired archeologist. The strawhat called out to her powers and formed arms on the bounty hunter's body that arched around his face, covering his eyes and blinding his vision.

The jet black haired man sneered viciously and yelled out loudly. Robin felt a sharp, stabbing pain across her arms and immediately dispersed them, seeing afterwards that the bounty hunter had formed spiky protrusions from his head, sharp enough to pierce skin. Robin cursed her luck, she wouldn't be able to pull off the same tricks again as easily as before.

The raven haired archeologist felt the blood on her arms running down a little more freely than before and a thought struck her. Raising her arms, the strawhat swung them forcibly at her attacker moments before he made it to her, the blood streaking down them getting flung off from the force.

Droplets of blood cascaded into the jet black haired man, pelting his face while a couple lone drops hit him in the eyes. The man grunted, but otherwise did not falter with his assault. Focusing on his onyx fruit power, the bounty hunter turned his right arm into the gemstone and swung forcefully at where he knew the archeologist was. Despite his inability to see, the bounty hunter felt something give way to his fist and a grin appeared. He took the time to clear out his eyes to see a building wall half-collapsed in front of him and it dawned on the jet black haired bounty hunter that it was what he had struck, not the archeologist.

Turning around quickly, the Falken crewmember saw that his opponent had easily sidestepped his blow and was now at a distance, closing her eyes and crossing her arms.

"Cien Fleur!"

The bounty hunter didn't know what the woman was planning on doing, but knew that he couldn't allow her any time for attacks. The woman was a brilliant fighter, relying on her surroundings and observations for victory, that much Raldios understood. Since she had learned certain things he could do, most notably protecting his body from her abilities, Raldios knew she was avoiding physical confrontation.

Raldios raised his right knee upwards, his foot still pointing downwards, before stomping into the ground. His foot merged with the ground and he sent it travelling through the ground to under the archeologists left foot, having it protrude from under it. His foot threw the archeologists left leg up into the air, throwing off her balance and forcing all of her weight to be placed on her injured ankle. She cried out in pain from the sudden altercation.

The bounty hunter took advantage of the distraction, running up to the woman, closing the distance between them. The Falken crewmember heard an extremely loud thud and felt the earth tremble as what he presumed to be a large chunk of the building he'd punched through crashed into the ground behind him, where he'd moments before been standing. When he made it to the archeologist he ducked and swept his leg across the ground, knocking the raven haired woman into the air by kicking out her leg. As she floated in the air, Raldios continued the spinning motion, hardening his left arm and punching the pirate in the stomach as he finished the rotation.

Robin coughed out as she was thrust back a couple of feet from the strike. She quickly brought herself to her knees, clutching her stomach and wheezing, before finally standing up again.

"I have to give you credit, Nico Robin. You're not half bad at close range fighting; you should really give it a chance sometime. That was a nice move you did there, using your own hands to take most of the impact from my punch."

Robin smiled weakly, looking down at the multiple hands she had summoned onto her stomach to dampen the blow. Her palms burned from taking the brunt of the punch, but better that than taking it full-force to the gut. She dispersed the hands in a shower of petals.

Raldios grinned widely. "I think it's time to finally end this." He held his right arm outwards, bending it forwards slightly. "Onyx Sickle!"

Robin watched as the bounty hunter's arm hardened and then sharpened into a black blade of sorts. The jet black haired man had essentially turned his arm into the edge of a scythe, however the archeologist saw him move it around like a normal arm.

The man charged again at the strawhat, laughing wildly as he quickly closed the gap between them. As he reached the archeologist, Raldios brought back his arm before swinging it forward in an attempt to cleave the woman in two, only to hit air.

Robin had bent herself backwards to dodge the blow, however her ankle had given out and now she lay on the ground on her upper back. Her feet were still planted on the ground and her lower body was out in the air.

Raldios looked down at the archeologist. "Nice dodge, too bad you sealed your fate with it. You won't be able to avoid this in the condition you're in. Farewell, Nico Robin."

The bounty hunter brought up his bladed arm and swung it into the ground at Robin's neck in order to behead her. Raldios again missed his target, his blade hitting and digging into the ground next to two arms protruding from the ground. Raldios swore, she had used her arms to push her up from the ground on her back to avoid the strike.

Struggling at first, the jet black haired bounty hunter took his arm out from the ground and saw that Robin had retreated back to the building he'd damaged earlier. He stretched out both of his arms to the side.

"Onyx Pistons."

Both arms, including the one that he had turned into a sickle, hardened and turned into onyx, still in their normal shapes. He moved them around, bending each arm and clenching his hands to make sure no mobility had been lost by the transformation. Satisfied with the results, Raldios charged at his opponent again.

"I guess you're too quick for the blade, but all I need to do is land one punch and you're done for! It was your misfortune that you got placed against me."

Robin threw a stone from the building at the bounty hunter as he charged her. Laughing, the Falken crewmember mockingly smashed the stone in midair and was coated in dust from the piece of the building.

In that moment of brazen carelessness, Robin had taken a larger piece of the crumpling wall in her hand and charged at the jet black haired man. As the dust cleared from the destroyed chunk of rock, Raldios looked expectantly to where the archeologist had been but was shocked to discover her right in front of him, running right towards him.

Before he could react to the sudden turn of events, Robin used as much force as she could to thrust the chunk of wall into the bounty hunter's face. The two collided at full sprint and the chunk of stone smashed into the bounty hunter's mouth and nose, flinging his head back. Robin, already weak from exhaustion, was spun around from the impact and flung to the ground.

Raldios clutched at his face, blood streaking down his nose and out of his mouth from the painful blow. He spit a mouthful of blood to the ground.

"Bitch, that hurt!" he spat out, looking vehemently at the archeologist. Seeing her lying crumpled and exhausted on the ground, the bounty hunter smiled a bloody smile. "Looks like you've reached your limit, though. It's a shame, I was quite enjoying myself."

Suddenly Raldios felt an energy surge inside of him, a magnificent feeling he'd only encountered once before and one he'd been dearly looking forward to ever since it was first experienced. He bent his head backwards and erupted into maniacal laughter at the sensation.

Meanwhile, Robin felt herself tremble from the horrible aura that was permeating from of the bounty hunter attempting to kill her. She knew, somehow, that her opponent was gaining an alarming amount of strength, permanently. How he was accomplishing this baffled the archeologist, but what she fully understood was that she was barely able to move anymore and now he was overflowing with power.

The strawhats eyes furiously darted back and forth across the area, desperately looking for something to either turn the tides or help her escape. She felt confident that if she was at full strength she could defeat this opponent, however the sudden assault coupled with his mysterious power had caught the raven haired archeologist off guard.

"Sorry, Nico Robin, I'm afraid I can't spare you any more time. Prepare yourself."

Raldios moved to finish off the demon child of Ohara, only to be stopped by a strong hand grabbing him by the shoulder.

* * *

Rederick's head was racing like crazy, too many things had happened within the span of the last hour or so and the younger man had no idea what to make of it. The recent conversation he'd just had with Garand still buzzed in the red haired bounty hunter's mind and worried him more than he'd have cared for.

…

"Edel said he sensed the prize on this island, Red." Garand had caught the red haired bounty hunter as the two had entered the bar, surprisingly almost at exactly the same time.

"Really? Hah, it's about time."

"No kidding. Listen to me though, Red, I'm here to warn you, as a friend."

"Warn me? About what?"

"I'm sure you've noticed it, but Edel has been getting less and less stable lately."

"Well, I figured it was because of the whole incident with—"

"Don't bring that shit up again Red; what you're suggesting isn't why and you know it. Also, I know what you did and what Kaelyn did, too. Before you say anything, that's not important right now; what _is_ important is that Edel is making his move and I'm worried."

"What, you think Edel is trying to get us all killed?" It was a joke, Rederick knew his captain had been off lately, but he knew the man would never do something like that.

"Honestly, I don't even know anymore. Red, it's getting to the point where I think he might just do it himself."

"_What._ You can't be fucking serious, you know what would happen… _he_ knows what would happen."

"We _all_ know what would happen, it's a godsend that it hasn't happened _yet_ already."

"I dunno, Garand. I just can't picture it… Raldios, sure; but the others?"

"There's no telling what's going on in their heads… Callos and Andy should be fine, but I don't know about the others."

"What about Jade and Erick? They're siblings for Christ's sake, you think they'd just—"

"I don't _know_, Red, that's the thing. These devil fruits have been messing with us ever since we ate them."

"Don't remind me… if I could go back in time and—"

"That's in the past, nothing you or any of us can do to change it now. All we can do is work with what we got. Anyways, I just came here to give you a heads up and to tell you to keep your guard up. I have a bad feeling."

"Yeah…"

"Oh! And one more thing, if you see Callos, stick with him until I get in contact with him, okay?"

"What for?"

"Just do it for me, please."

"Okay, fine. I'll do it, don't worry."

"Thanks, Red, I owe you one."

...

To top it all off, he'd just met with the legendary pirate hunter, Roronoa Zoro, and almost got into a fight. If that wasn't enough, now one of his crewmates was dead and he had no idea who it was.

Rederick cursed under his breath. If only he had a better sensing power like Kaelyn or Raldios, he'd be able to find out the truth once and for all. The younger man furrowed his brows at the thought of Kaelyn, he didn't know what he'd do if it was her.

Out of the corner of his eye, Rederick noticed a strange commotion occurring at an alleyway not too far from the entrance of the bar. Going against his better judgment, Rederick found himself hurriedly wandering over to the alleyway in question to see something he would never have expected.

His crewmate, Raldios, was engaged in a serious fight with what appeared to be Nico Robin. He wouldn't have believed it at first, but considering he had just talked to Roronoa Zoro, Rederick didn't find it that hard to believe the swordsman's nakama would be in the area as well.

A sudden anger began welling up inside the bounty hunter for reasons he didn't quite understand. Sure there was the fact that Raldios was going against the Falken creed by attacking a pirate that wasn't on their target list, however the anger was much more deeply rooted than that. For whatever reason, Rederick found himself reminded of Kaelyn by the raven haired archeologist; perhaps it was because Zoro sort of reminded him of himself and the green haired swordsman clearly had a strong bond with this woman.

Whatever the reason was, Rederick found that he could no longer tolerate the two fighting, knowing his crewmate well enough to understand that he was likely the cause of this encounter.

Walking over, the red haired bounty hunter forcibly grabbed his crewmate by the shoulder, jilting the individual out of his focus.

"The _hell_ are you doing, Raldios?" the red haired bounty hunter growled. He was then taken aback by the visage of his crewmate, blood flowing from his mouth and nose and his chin had been busted up.

"Oh, Rederick, how _nice_ of you to be here!" Raldios looked back and spat some blood on the ground. "Sorry about breaking the code and all, but this one is directly tied in our affairs here. Don't worry; I'm sure Edel will give the heads up to grab the Straw Hats once we all meet up again. Consider this… a precautionary step." The jet black haired man gave an empty smile to his comrade.

"Stop spewing bullshit, Raldios. What reasoning do you have for your statement?" It didn't matter what the man would say, Rederick knew it wasn't going to change his mind. He didn't loosen his grasp.

Raldios turned to face the red haired bounty hunter and smacked his hand aside off of his shoulder bitterly.

"Can't really explain it, pal. You'll just have to take my word for it, she's involved."

"First off, I wouldn't exactly call us _pals_. Second, even if we were, you think that flimsy excuse is enough for what you've _done_ to this woman? Look at her." To emphasize his point, Rederick directed the jet black haired man to the archeologist behind him, painfully clutching her wounded arm and avoiding placing any weight on what appeared to be an injured leg. "You did that because you _had a hunch?_"

"Yes… I don't see what you're getting at." Raldios looked back at his crewmate, his visage relatively unchanged from the sight.

"I know you don't," Rederick sighed, "but I guess that's the point." He perked up, remembering something more important. "Besides, you felt it, right?"

"I did."

Rederick looked wildly at the other bounty hunter. "Well, who was it?"

Raldios straightened up, looking off to the side indifferently. "It wasn't Kael since I know that's what you're asking, Rederick."

The red haired bounty hunter sighed audibly in unsuppressed relief.

"Well, don't you want to know who it is?" Raldios tilted his head to the side, smiling amusedly at his comrade's reaction. "Or do you not care, now that you know it wasn't her?"

Rederick glared angrily at his companion, who began laughing once he had done so.

"Haha, don't get your panties in a bunch, Red. I wasn't going to tell you anyways."

The red haired man looked painfully off to the side. "Some crew we've become, huh?"

Raldios patted the troubled bounty hunter on the shoulder. "I know it seems like we're heartless, but given the circumstances I don't think it could have turned out any differently. It's been a hell of a past few months."

"That doesn't justify it…" Rederick continued to gaze off to the side.

"Maybe not, but it is what it is." The jet black haired bounty hunter looked back to Robin. "Looks like we're out of time, Nico Robin. You can relax for now, though I'm not too sure for how long." He looked in frustration at his red haired companion before going back to the raven haired archeologist. "I'd consider myself lucky if I were you. If it were up to me you wouldn't be leaving this alley by yourself."

"That's enough, Raldios," Rederick stated, done with his musing. Looking back to Robin, he called out, "By the way, your crewmate is in that messed up bar. I'd go to him if I were you." Beginning to walk away, the bounty hunter barked to his companion, "Let's get back to the meeting place."

"Fine, fine." The jet black haired bounty hunter began following his crewmate, only calling out to the archeologist just before he went out of the alley. "Until next time, beautiful."

Robin almost collapsed to the ground, relieved that it looked like she was going to be alright. A nagging suspicion that she was being tricked by the two tried to wend its way into her head, however the archeologist felt like the red haired individual wouldn't try something as base as that, whoever he was.

The woman suddenly remembered hearing Zoro's name called out in a fury earlier and again worried about his state. She trusted in his abilities; however these were no ordinary opponents, if Raldios was to be any example. Even worse, that red haired person had said that Zoro was in the bar, implying that he had seen him in person. Zoro could certainly hold his own against one opponent, but the archeologist couldn't help but worry that he'd been teamed up against.

Hobbling as quickly as she could on her injured ankle, Robin eventually made her way to the entrance of the _Clock's Hand_. The building was in much worse condition than when she had first seen it, holes formed in its walling and a few windows broken. The main doors were also all beat up and one was hanging off of its hinges, about ready to fall off.

She finally found herself pushing through the one half-decent door with her left shoulder, still clutching her right arm, and started to look around the interior before she heard a drink fall to the floor.

The noise grabbing her attention, Robin quickly looked over to see the incredulous and horrified look of her nakama, Roronoa Zoro. His mouth hung agape and if the swordsman had been in mid-drink Robin had no doubt it would be running out of his mouth and onto his red shirt. Red?

Everything else aside, her wounds, her encounter, the death threats to her and the swordsman, even the red shirt, the raven haired archeologist could have imagined no greater sight than the concerned visage of the green haired swordsman at this moment.

Robin limped forward a couple of steps before the last of her strength finally left her. Her legs wobbled and eventually buckled under her weight. The archeologist would have fallen hard to the ground had the swordsman not reacted instantly and darted across the floor, catching her in his grasp; a firm hold with surprising care and gentleness behind it. She welcomed his warm embrace as his voice began to ask her too many questions that she didn't care to answer at the moment. She smiled, safe again.

_Ending note: Phew, glad to be done with this one. A lot of work went into it, although I don't know how strong of a chapter it is. It certainly didn't go the way I expected it to (the events that happened were pre-planned, it was the interaction that was different than how I pictured it to be), however the words just kind of found their way onto the paper, so I think that if that's how it felt it should come out then that's the right way. We'll be touching base with the other strawhats from here on out, so it will be a little bit before things come back to these two. I think that even though the issue isn't completely resolved that this isn't really a cliffhanger anymore that I'm leaving it on (in regards to Zoro/Robin). Or maybe I am, I don't know, heh. In any case, I really started to delve into some larger things this chapter. I can safely say we are now officially in the thick of the story. As always, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I look forward to hearing what you thought of it! Until next time._


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